SALT LAKE CITY — Dozens of protesters spent hours outside the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services in downtown Salt Lake City after recent reports of ICE agents arresting people at their immigration check-ins.
Those who protested told FOX 13 News that the building is supposed to be a safe space, and now it’s not.
It was last Tuesday when Jair Celis and his wife, Lexi, went to USCIS for his final green card interview. Jair came to the U.S. when he was young on a visa and has been married for five years.
“The USCIS officer asked if just Jair could go back, and I went with him because I was his attorney. Instead of going into an interviewing room, we went into another room where there were two ICE agents,” said Celis's immigration attorney, Andy Armstrong.
Armstrong said what transpired in the building was a shock.
“I immediately understood what was happening, but we haven't seen that in Utah very much, and particularly, I have never seen that," added Armstrong. "[Celis] has no criminal history and doesn't have an ineligibility to get a green card, and so I wasn't going to the interview thinking that there was going to be any sort of a problem.”
Video shows emotional ICE detainment of woman at SLC Airport:
According to Armstrong, the reasoning ICE agents gave for the arrest was that Celis had overstayed his visa.
“That's a legitimate reason," Armstrong said, "It's not that it's an illegitimate detention. It's just we have not seen it right at the very last minute when we have a client that's about to get over the finish line of getting a green card, and instead, he gets detained.”
After his arrest, Celis was taken to an ICE facility in Arizona.
“He didn't have an opportunity to speak to his wife. And so after they had taken him away, then I went and spoke to his wife, and had to tell her exactly what happened. And she was quite distraught. Obviously, that's the last thing that in her mind she thought would happen," explained the attorney.
The arrest sparked outrage from Utah residents, with many standing outside the USCIS building for eight hours on Monday.
“We wanted to send a strong message to ICE, knowing that they were planning on showing up and intimidating and detaining people, that the community stands with immigrants and that we oppose these ICE actions," said Liz Maryon.
Maryon is a volunteer with the Salt Lake Community Bail Fund, which is working on court support to prevent situations like what happened to Celis from happening to anyone else.
“We had our volunteers checking people in as they went to their appointments, to make sure that they got out okay, and that we were able to collect their contact information, emergency contact information, just in case they did get detained. Because that really is something that is really scary," she said.
West Valley City's Luis Villarreal participated in the protest because it hit close to home.
“I was born to two immigrant parents. I mean, my mom, just two years ago, was at this building getting her green card and her residency. My dad just got his two months ago, in October. So to me, this building is honestly a safe place," Villarreal shared. "For ICE to show up and make that difficult for people... it just goes to show that they don't care about the community.”
Armstrong says they will work to get Jair out on bond, just so they can start the final interview process over again.
“This use of government resources and time and effort to put him through this process, honestly, does not serve a purpose in his case, other than to cause him to suffer," he said, "and so then you wonder, what's the purpose?”
