SALT LAKE CITY — 21-year-old Kevin Ortiz Barros showed up to his immigration proceeding two weeks ago with his special immigrant juvenile visa in hand, but no lawyer by his side.
Barros fled from his home in Colombia three years ago and came to the United States. Since he was under 21 at the time, he was granted certain safeguards and got his special immigrant juvenile application approved.
During his immigration proceedings a few weeks ago, his now-attorney Adam Crayk said things went south.
“The government indicated, 'No, we'll just move to terminate his case now, and we'll put him in expedited removal proceedings,'” Crayk said.
According to Crayk, once someone has exceeded their two-year mark from the date of their encounter with immigration, they are no longer eligible for removal.
“He's a 21-year-old kid that shouldn't know anything about immigration law, right? You see right here the epitome of low-hanging fruit. That's why,” Crayk said, "anyone here would have smacked the table. No, we are not going to agree to the petition to terminate.”
As Barros was being detained after the proceeding, he said no one would tell him why.
“I don't understand why. I go to court, but now I’m arrested. So, why? It scared me,” Barros said.
WATCH: Utahn calls ICE detention 'dehumanizing' in return home
Barros was detained for 11 days, describing that at times there would be 80 people assigned to one room.
“It's inhuman, absolutely inhuman. It's terrible,” he said.
Crayk said they immediately filed an emergency temporary restraining order.
“As soon as we put together our brief, sent it in, the government['s] response back was, 'Yep, they're right. We're not going to do this. We agree he should be released. We have no objection to his release,” he said.
Barros had three days to be released. Crayk said he has no criminal history, and was working his way through the court system properly.
“When we went through and looked at each and every step that took place, there is no substantiation, there is no statute. There is nothing that allows for him being arrested like he was,” he said.
Despite everything, there’s one thing Barros hopes others in his shoes will take away from his experience.
“I absolutely felt like a criminal without ever doing anything, solely for trying to do things the right way — but my main mistake was to go without having an attorney with me to court,” Barros said with Crayk translating.
Crayk added that because the government terminated his case, Barros is not in any court proceedings right now, and what’s next is up in the air.
