Antonio de Jesus Martinez reported to a scheduled immigration interview in New York City as part of a process to obtain lawful permanent resident status. He didn’t know that the government had converted the process into a trap: ICE was waiting to detain and deport him when he arrived. Mr. Martinez has been with his wife, Vivian Martinez, a U.S. citizen, for fourteen years, and they have a two-year-old daughter and an infant son. The couple were petitioning for Antonio to obtain lawful status through a process-- created in 2013 and expanded in 2016--created for couples of mixed status like them. Previously, a person in Mr. Martinez’s position would need to leave the U.S. for years at a time to apply for a green card. The new process allows those individuals to complete most stages of the application from within the U.S., sparing families the trauma of long-term separation. Antonio and Vivian never imagined that they would be punished for following the government’s own rules. On June 22, 2018, the ACLU-NJ and the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) filed a federal lawsuit to halt Antonio’s deportation and secure to his release from immigration detention.
