July 2, 2015

Dear Secretary Johnson,

We, the following civil, labor, and human rights organizations, request the immediate
release of Mr. Gustavo Barahona-Sanchez (A No. 098-402-900) and Mr. Jose Adan
Fugon-Cano (A No. 200-125-739) pursuant to the Prosecutorial Discretion: Certain
Victims, Witnesses, and Plaintiffs memorandum. These individuals have alleged serious
constitutional violations in their arrests and detention while they were waiting to be
picked up for work- including collusion between U.S. Customs and Border Patrol and
local law enforcement.
Instead of releasing them pending full investigation of their civil rights complaint by the
DHS Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, ICE has repeatedly taken actions to
discourage their civil rights reporting, including denying their prosecutorial discretion
requests without review on the appropriate standards, transferring Mr. Fugon to the
staging area for deportation, ordering the civil rights interviews to take place hand-andfeet-cuffed under surveillance, and most recently transferring the individuals to block
their attorney access in advance of the civil rights interviews. These actions underscore
why DHS must ensure the implementation of the Prosecutorial Discretion: Certain
Victims, Witnesses, and Plaintiffs memorandum. Mr. Fugon and Mr. Barahona should
be immediately released and granted a stay of removal as they cooperate with an in
depth investigation by DHS-OCRCL into their underlying arrest and subsequent
retaliation.
Factual Background
On May 28th, Mr. Barahona and Mr. Fugon, along with other workers, were racially
profiled and arrested in Leesville, LA by local police while standing on a public sidewalk
waiting for work. The sheriff officers arrested the workers solely for immigration
purposes. The workers were brought to the jail where Border Patrol was called and took
custody of the workers. Mr. Barahona and Mr. Fugon are now in ICE detention and face
imminent deportation as a result of collusion with biased local police.
On June 16th, civil rights complaints were filed with DHS Office for Civil Rights and
Civil Liberties (OCRCL) on behalf of Mr. Barahona and Mr. Fugon, alleging violations
of the First, Fourth, and Fifth Amendment as well as DHS memoranda. Mr. Barahona and
Mr. Fugon have requested prosecutorial discretion in part based on their pursuit of their
civil rights complaint. Both Mr. Fugon and Mr. Barahonas requests have been denied by
the local office. Both requesters are seeking review from ERO Headquarters.
In response, ICE has taken actions against complainants which raise serious concerns
about their safety from retaliation in detention. Last Thursday, June 25th, ICE attempted
to deport Mr. Fugon ahead of his scheduled interview with DHS OCRCL, who was only
returned to the facility after counsel raised concern.

Now, ICE contends that interviewees must be hand-and-feet shackled and body chained
in order to participate in their civil rights interviews, over counsels repeated objections
and attempts to troubleshoot.
Furthermore, yesterday evening, ICE suddenly transferred complainants from SLCC
facility, cutting off scheduled legal communications with counsel. Only after multiple
requests to restore legal communications were complainants being transferred back to
SLCC.
We are seriously concerned by ICEs adverse actions against complainants. This is no
way to treat community leaderssuch actions are deeply misaligned with investigatory
best practice, particularly in the civil rights context, and deny complainants their basic
dignity.
Conclusion
Given ICEs actions and OCRCL inability to remedy these critical missteps, we ask that
complainants be immediately released from ICE detention. Mr. Barahona and Mr. Fugon
are contributing members of our community who are standing up against bias policing
and for civil rights of all community members: they should be released and reunited with
community and accorded the full opportunity to pursue their civil rights.
Sincerely,
American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFLCIO)
Immigrant Defense Project (IDP)
Immigrant Legal Resource Center (ILRC)
Jobs With Justice-National
National Immigration Project of the National Lawyer's Guild (NIP)
National Immigration Law Center (NILC)
National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON)
National Domestic Workers Alliance (NDWA)
#Not1More
The Southside Worker Center-Tucson, AZ
United We Dream
We Belong Together