Five of the six people arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement at Cilantro Taqueria in Cleveland Heights last month are being released from jail after bond was paid Tuesday morning.
Attorneys said during a press conference a $4,500 bond was paid per person and five of their clients are expected to be released from the Geauga County jail as early as Tuesday. The attorneys said the sixth client was denied bond, but said they would continue working on their case.
The six people, as well as the restaurant owners, are represented by immigration attorneys at Margaret W. Wong & Associates, LLC in Cleveland.
“You can’t just say, ‘Hey, your honor. Trust me. They won’t run,’” attorney Margaret Wong of Wong & Associates said. “But we are also lucky because at least today the judge is very nice.”
ICE went to the Cilantro Taqueria location in Cleveland Heights on Jan. 26 looking for a particular person who was not at the restaurant, according to the attorneys.
“We have no knowledge of that person. We don’t know who he is,” said attorney Ameed Kollab. "We were never provided any documentation from the government as to [the] relation of the photo or anything they were using to find that person."
They said ICE arrested their six clients instead.
News of the detentions broke shortly after the Trump administration announced a push to crack down on illegal immigration and rework the legal immigration system. Word of stepped-up ICE enforcement actions nationwide coupled with the reports of local immigration arrests, which spread quickly on social media, left many in Northeast Ohio migrant communities fearful.
“From the clients that I’ve been dealing with, I think the general atmosphere is people are scared,” Kollab said. "People are concerned about this new change and this new wave of movement that we’re seeing from the government."
The attorneys said they weren’t provided with any documentation that determined if ICE had a warrant to search the restaurant.
“We’re not sure what determinations the government did in order to find out whether these people had status or not,” Kollab said. "We understand that they came into the restaurant and as per the sweep, they began to detain all of these people and question them."
The attorneys declined to give the names of the six people, but they said they were between the ages of 18 and 35. All are from Mexico and had been in the country between two and five years, although some of them left the United States and came back.
The attorneys said these five will be in immigration court as early as next week and will apply for “relief” from removal proceedings, which could include filing for asylum or other status that would allow them to stay in the country.
“They’ll be free to move around as any other person,” Kollab said. "They will be seeking relief, which then... will allow them to go and possibly get a work permit."
Attorneys said the immigration court hearings could be a lengthy process, especially with a high number of immigration cases moving through the courts.
The attorneys declined to say if those arrested were employees of the restaurant. Wong said she is unsure if the owners of Cilantro Taqueria could face any repercussions for employing undocumented immigrants.
