Lawsuit Raises Questions on Government Authority in ICE Detentions
The ongoing lawsuit against Cesar Campos-Reyes, the owner of a Mexican restaurant, has sparked renewed scrutiny over whether the U.S. government can request courts to grant extraordinary powers that would allow ICE to detain individuals without court access.
Recently, the Justice Department requested the court to mandate a deposit involving undocumented immigrants who might serve as potential witnesses against Campos-Reyes.
Cecilia Vaka, a federal defender, informed APR that U.S. Magistrate Judge Chad Bryan opted to postpone this deposit due to objections raised by the defense during a recent hearing. She mentioned that the government might seek to reschedule the deposit. Vaka is representing Isaac Fernandez-Lopez, a kitchen manager at Campos-Reyes’ restaurant in Opelika, who, despite no clear basis for charges against him according to Judge Bryan, remains in custody as a potential trial witness.
Depositions are typically rare in criminal trials, according to Richard “Matt” Matthews. He remarked, “In my 24 years of practicing criminal law, this has never happened.”
The government is following a similar strategy with another manager related to Fernandez-Lopez and Campos-Reyes, Luis Miguel Campos-Reyes. Here, the defense contends that the government’s issues regarding witness availability shouldn’t lead to unprecedented circumstances for their clients.
The government claims that the witness unavailability is “trivial,” yet Matthews pointed out that this situation stems from concerns raised by the government itself. He stated, “The U.S. government is attempting to remove them from the Central District of Alabama and deport them. The U.S. attorneys argue that the court ‘cannot ensure their presence in court.’ In the cited lawsuit, the court detained material witnesses until it was agreed upon after the deposit.”
Beyond the DOJ’s unusual requests, the defense has raised numerous technical questions regarding the process of depositions and the rationale behind delaying them.
Additional evidence submitted last week provided insight into the government’s case against Campos-Reyes. The government announced the seizure of over $400,000 from bank accounts belonging to Campos-Reyes and his family, which included several accounts from his restaurant. Adding the $100,000 taken during the raid, the total amount seized in relation to this case reaches $500,000. This figure, however, does not encompass two Edward Jones accounts that weren’t detailed in the notification.
