Trump expelled immigration activist from the United States: too often and loudly defied the government

Jean Montreville arrived in New York legally in 1986. At first I went on a slippery path, but in the end I became a law-abiding citizen. In 2017, the president of the United States was Donald Trump, who promised to expel illegal immigrants from the country. Montreville decided to take part in one of the prayer demonstrations on this occasion when he was arrested. In 2018, Jean was deported to Haiti. About the story of the activist for immigration rights in New York told the publication The Intercept.

About the lawsuit

On January 16, New York immigration rights activist Jean Montreville, deported by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement in 2018, filed a lawsuit in federal court in Brooklyn. He claims to be deported because of his political speech. The man said that the deportation from the United States violated his rights under the First Amendment. The activist demanded that the government return him home from Haiti - to New York.

The lawsuit filed by 51-year-old Montreville, founding member of the New Sanctuary Coalition of New York City, is based on a decision made last spring by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in the case of former colleague and activist Ravi Ragbury . In the Ragbir case, the court found that the ICE's actions against Ragbir in early 2018 were aimed at retributing for political speech and thus violated his rights under the First Amendment.

Planned Conspiracy

Ragbir's lawsuit concerned surveillance, intimidation and attempted deportation, which was thwarted only by an emergency court ruling in January 2018. Montreville's records of being threatened for his activism are rooted in 10 years of history. And while Ragbier managed to avoid deportation, Montreville failed - in large part, he claims, due to an elaborate and planned conspiracy. This deprived him of access to courts, a lawyer and even the right to due process for a period long enough to get him out of the country by plane.

"Since 2005, Jean, like nearly a million others, has lived under supervision, which has allowed him to stay in the United States," said Lauren Wilfong, one of the lawyers representing Montreville. "It was only after he started acting as an activist that he had real problems with ICE."

Montreville's friends and relatives describe the trajectory of his life as a story of atonement and growth, which is required of people convicted of crimes. They say that his adult life was characterized by industry, social construction and the love that this country appreciates in its immigrants. In their eyes, the deportation of Montreville is a double punishment for youthful crimes, for which he served a considerable term. Most of all, it worries that this is most likely a punishment for daring to talk about the problem of violence and the injustice of the American immigration control apparatus.

Montreville's lawsuit is designed to force the court to admit what many who have followed his case seem obvious: this deportation was, in fact, political - it is the literal expulsion of a dissident who too often and loudly challenged the government.

Moving to the USA

Montreville came to New York legally in 1986 at the age of 17. Then his father, a former Haitian military official living in Brooklyn, received a green card for his son. For Montreville, who grew up in Port-au-Prince, the transition to life under the strict guidance of his father was difficult. “It was a little shocking,” Montreville said. - He was very tough, you know, a former military man. I had a hard time getting along with him. Looking back, I blame myself for disobedience. "

Montreville ran away from home and, according to him, ended up in the wrong company. For two years, he collected convictions: for possession of drugs for distribution in Virginia, misconduct with firearms in New York, for possession of drugs in New Jersey. In prison, awaiting trial on Virginia charges, Montreville got into a fight. This led to further accusations. At 21, the guy was expected 30 years in prison. He was also threatened with deportation.

Trying to start life from the beginning

However, in 2000 he was conditionally released. Montreville turned 32 years old, and he was determined to live a different life. The guy took over the management of a religious goods store in Flatbush, Brooklyn. He later met with Jani Kauten, an assistant at a public school. They got married, they had children. The man meticulously complied with the conditions of the probationary period and regularly visited immigration services. He volunteered with HIV-positive patients through his church. He also collaborated with Family for Freedom, which provides support to detained immigrants and their families.

In 2006, Juan Carlos Ruiz, a Lutheran minister and immigration activist, learned about Montreville through his work. He invited him over to discuss what was to become the New York Asylum Coalition. Families for Freedom focuses its work on serving people trapped in the deportation mechanism. The New Asylum Coalition would become more open, more political, and more prominent. “Jin didn't let his fears stop him, but of course he was worried about the risk of becoming the public face of the movement,” Ruiz said.

Arrest

These concerns have been substantiated. As Montreville’s new role attracted media attention, the ICE responded with what he perceived as retaliation.

During the year, the agency enrolled him in the intensive control program - ISAP. The latter was usually intended for people who did not register on a schedule or were considered to pose a risk.

Montreville was supposed to wear an ankle monitor, register with ICE three times a week and observe curfews from 7pm to 7am. Despite the fact that most of the people at that time were placed in ISAP for a short period, Montreville was in the program for more than a year. Curfew prevented his new business, as the man used the van to deliver customers to airports or to visit relatives in the north of the state. The electronic bracelet irritated his skin, leaving the scars that he wears to this day.

In 2009, he was taken into custody, according to Montreville himself, for his political activity. As Montreville waited in a Pennsylvania jail, his family, church and supporters rallied around, cutting off telephone lines at ICE's New York office and staging loud protests outside. “I have no doubt that Jean has become a target for speech,” said pastor of the Montreville church, the Reverend Donna Schaper.

Exemption

Montreville was eventually released. However, he received a strict warning.

Christopher Shanahan, then director of the ICE field office in New York, took a very unusual move. He met with Montreville, Schaper, and activist attorney Joshua Bardavid and said: "This cannot be repeated."

Also, Shanahan noted: if Montreville agrees to lie low, then he will no longer have problems. According to Montreville, Shanahan also told him that if he did not raise his head, ICE's New York director would help him avoid deportation.

What they say at ICE

The Intercept was unable to take comments on the publication from Shanahan.

Rachael Yong Yow, a spokesman for ICE's New York division, denies that Montreville has been targeted for his activism. She refers to his conviction on several felony charges and the final deportation order of the immigration judge. “The USCIS does not aim to arrest foreigners for the illegal presence of foreigners on the basis of their position or in response to criticism they make,” she said. "Any suggestion to the contrary is irresponsible, speculative and imprecise."

Calm before the storm

Concerned about what would happen to his family if he continued to oppose the ICE, Montreville decided to accept Shanahan's offer and move away from his activity. He stopped giving interviews and focused on business, church, and family. Seven years passed and Montreville continued to periodically meet with ICE staff without incident.

In 2017, President Donald Trump was elected on the basis of campaign promises to deport all illegal immigrants. Montreville decided to take part in one of the prayer demonstrations of the New Asylum Coalition outside the local ICE headquarters. At the next registration, Montreville was detained, fingerprinted and ordered to give his property.

Bardavid, his lawyer, showed ICE officials a paper receipt confirming that Montreville was still pending before the Board of Immigration Appeals, but ICE insisted that there was no record of any open proceedings in their system. Montreville was soon released without explanation. “I think they were trying to scare me,” he said.

Deportation

Montreville was given another date for registration - January 16, 2018. Sworn statements by ICE officials in the Ragbir case later revealed that they had begun planning the deportation of Montreville and Ragbier back in October. Although they initially denied this, ICE officials later admitted that they had taken Montreville, Ragbir and the New Haven Coalition offices under secret surveillance.

On January 3, ICE plainclothes officers, who obviously knew that Montreville regularly returned home during the lunch break, arrested him near his home in the Far Rockaway area of ​​Queens. Montreville was taken to the local ICE office at 26 Federal Plaza in Lower Manhattan.

“One of the guys said to me in the car, 'Don't you know we now have Trump as president? He doesn't like immigrants, ”said Montreville. - I told them all the time that I have a petition. They said, "Everything you have has been withdrawn."

In the ICE office, Montreville repeatedly asked to speak with his lawyer, but he was told that his lawyer was not in the building. Bardavid was actually in the building, but he was told that he could not meet his client.

ICE remanded Montreville in New Jersey, but kept Bardavid in ignorance all day, telling him that he could meet with his client the next day.

Finally, on January 5, Bardavid spoke to Scott Mechkowski, then deputy director of ICE's New York office. “We played war over and over again,” Bardavid said to Mehkovsky, telling him about the detention of Montreville. Mehkovsky initially did not tell Bardavid that ICE was transporting his client to Krome Prison in Florida on the same day. The paperwork required for this was prepared over the long Martin Luther King Jr.Day holiday weekend. By the time the court opened at 8 a.m. the following Tuesday to hear Bardavid's urgent motion, Montreville was already on a plane in Haiti that took off at 7 38 a.m. “ICE planned and executed Jean's deportation in such a way that he did not have access to a lawyer and the courts,” Bardavid said in a sworn statement attached to the lawsuit.

Montreville's lawyers in his new lawsuit, Wilfong and Diane Rosen, law students at New York University School of Law, said the legal and civil issues involved in the Montreville case were critical. Across the country, there are dozens of other documented cases of immigration activists being targeted for deportation. “This is permanent harm, and ICE clearly feels they can act with impunity to silence their critics,” Rosen said. “By deporting Jean the way they did, ICE sought to send a chilling message to immigrants who could exercise their First Amendment rights. What is at stake is whether they really succeed in this endeavor. ”

“He never returned”

There are more personal motives for Montreville and his family in this endeavor. Montreville says it’s hard for him in Haiti, a country he left as a child, where living conditions are rapidly deteriorating.

His oldest child is now 16 years old, he is studying at the prestigious Brooklyn Technical High School. However, after the deportation of his father, he is very worried, and the family is worried about him.

Montreville's daughter, Jamia, said she speaks to her father via WhatsApp every day when Haiti's unreliable communications infrastructure allows. But, according to her, this does not compare with his presence in their lives. “I thought he was coming back, but he never really came back,” the girl said. “I would like people to understand that when you deport someone, it affects not only one person, but also his family.”