Arrested Lansdowne workers released by ICE
By Jason Jacks
Many of the Latin American workers arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement authorities at the exclusive Lansdowne Resort earlier this month have been released from custody, according to people who have spoken with several of those arrested.
Lisa Johnson-Firth is an attorney with Immigration and Human Rights Group LLC, representing five of the people detained on charges of possessing fraudulent immigration documents. She said April 18 that ICE released two of her clients and she was confident at least two more would be let go soon. Each, though, still faces deportation, she said.
She also was told that other Lansdowne workers were released, many with “no bond” requirements placed upon them, but she did not know how many.
ICE did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
Laura Valle, an advocate for the local immigrant community, said she has been providing translation services to three of the workers released by ICE.
They told her all but five of the 59 people arrested at Lansdowne have been let go. Those still under arrest, she was told, had been previously deported from the United States and had re-entered.
Johnson-Firth speculated one reason for the mass release is lack of room.
“ICE has no bed space,” she said.
Another reason, she added, is that at the time of the arrests, some may not have had their documentation with them.
“Later on, a family member might have produced a green card,” she added.
Before quickly directing a reporter to another office, one ICE spokesperson said there are “alternatives” to jail for some illegal immigrants. Subsequent calls to ICE to get the status of the workers were not returned.
ICE does acknowledge on its Web site, though, that due to limited bed space, it is forced to release some illegal immigrants on their own recognizance who do not pose a risk to the public.
On April 8, ICE arrested 59 workers at the luxury hotel and golf club east of Leesburg on charges of using fake or stolen immigration documents to obtain work.
ICE officials began their investigation last summer by inspecting Lansdowne's I-9 employment forms, which document whether someone is legally allowed to work in the country.
A press statement released by ICE immediately following the raid said all those detained were “nationals of El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Honduras, Bolivia, Peru and Argentina” and all faced “removal proceedings.”
When asked through Valle, the three workers she is aiding declined to be interviewed or give their names, but they did give Valle permission to speak for them, and one provided a copy of his “Order of Release on Recognizance” to the Times-Mirror.
The document, with the name blocked out and dated April 15, said he cannot associate with a known gang or commit a crime. He also is not allowed to change residences without written permission from a deportation officer. Failure to abide by these conditions “may result in revocation of your release,” according to the document.
When hearing of the workers' release, Supervisor Eugene Delgaudio (R-Sterling) took the opportunity to chastise Loudoun's Board of Supervisors for not adopting many of the anti-illegal immigrant measures he proposed in 2007, including one that would have required residents to show proof of residency to use county services.
“This board doesn't mind Loudoun being a landing zone for all the illegal aliens in the world,” he said, adding sarcastically, “It's nice to see that ICE now agrees with the majority of the board.”
Valle said nearly half of those arrested at Lansdowne are from the same village in El Salvador, including the men she is assisting.
After they were held for several days, the men told her, ICE took them by bus to Leesburg early last week and dropped them off with nine or 10 other Lansdowne workers in the middle of the night. At least 12 other workers, she was told, were transported in a second bus to Leesburg.
Spokespeople with the Leesburg Police Department and the county's Sheriff's Office were not aware of the workers' release.
Valle said the men she is assisting -- two brothers and a cousin -- were told to report back to a deportation officer once a month and they could apply for a work permit, a process that could take several months.
She said each intends to follow ICE's orders, but without the legal ability to work, she said, they feel stuck in limbo and full of unknowns for their respective futures.
“They are completely bewildered,” she said. “They don't know what's going on.”
Contact the reporter at jjacks@timespapers.com