A Westside father who was arrested by immigration officials outside an East Price Hill Kroger has opted to return to Guatemala voluntarily rather than remain in detention at the Butler County Jail.
Alonzo Tomas Mendez was one of four men arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers in the Warsaw Avenue Kroger parking lot on May 31. On Wednesday, an immigration judge granted a voluntary departure request for Mendez after he was denied bond on July 23, according to immigration advocates at Ignite Peace Cincinnati.
Samantha Searls, program director at Ignite Peace, pointed to a July 8 memo issued by ICE that states immigrants must remain in detention for the duration of their case.
“It’s absolutely inhumane to keep innocent people locked up without the chance of bond,” said Searls. “Immigration cases can take months and often years to resolve — can you imagine a person who’s never committed a crime in their life being held in the harsh conditions of a jail for an indiscriminate amount of time? Jails like the Butler County Jail are not set up to hold people for long periods of time — they’re meant to hold folks temporarily until they are granted bond, a trial, or sentenced and transferred to other facilities. Jails are not meant to care for innocent immigrant families.”…