A Cuban immigrant detained in Butler County Jail will be a key witness on June 4 in a lawsuit that seeks to end warrantless immigration arrests across Ohio.
Leosdanis Mulet-Zaldivar, who entered the U.S. in 2022 under a Cuban humanitarian parole program, will lay out the details of his December arrest via video testimony from the jail.
“I am extremely worried that if I cannot be released soon, my family will not have enough money for food,” the 35-year-old married father of two said in a court document.
If successful, the federal suit, which seeks class action status, would expunge the records of Ohio immigrants arrested without warrants and bar any future similar arrests.
Federal agents ‘wantonly stopping’ immigrants, suit charges
Four Ohio immigrants filed the suit against the Department of Homeland Security, Customs and Border Protection, Border Patrol and top officials of those agencies (some since replaced) in March.
“Plain clothed, masked and armed federal agents have been patrolling the streets of Ohio, wantonly stopping and detaining individuals without warrants and without probable cause,” according to the suit.
The “pattern and practice of unlawful behavior,” the suit maintains, has caused “irreparable harm” and widespread fear among the 670 immigrants who were detained across the state as of February and the overall Ohio immigrant community.
The suit asserts the four plaintiffs and hundreds of others were arrested without warrants, without probable cause that they were removable under immigration law, and without evidence that they would try to escape before arresting officers could obtain a warrant.
The government opposes the suit, saying the proposed class is too broad. Additionally, its response said warrantless arrests “are not inherently unlawful” and probable cause can only be determined case by case.
Neither DHS nor ICE immediately responded to a request to explain their arrest policies or why Mulet-Zaldivar was pulled from his car.
Cuban in Butler County 1 of 13 witnesses in federal case
One plaintiff in the case arrived in Ohio in 2014 from Peru. Another came from Honduras in 2023 and another from Kenya in 2023. The fourth arrived from an unnamed country in 2022.
Mulet-Zaldivar is not a plaintiff, but instead is one of 13 witnesses participating in three days of evidentiary hearings this week.
According to court documents, he requested entrance to the U.S. at a Texas port of entry on Dec. 24, 2022, and was granted humanitarian parole two days later. Under the 1966 Cuban Adjustment Act, which allows Cubans to bypass some standard immigration procedures, he applied for and is awaiting a green card. That would make him a lawful permanent U.S. citizen.
Mulet-Zalvidar and his family moved to Grove City, Ohio, after three months in Las Vegas, he said in court documents. He worked there as an auto body painter, attended church every Sunday and supported his wife, 11-year-old son and 3-year-old daughter. Prior to last December, he’d never been arrested or charged with a crime, he said.
‘What makes you legal in this country?’
On Dec. 20, he said, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers forced his car to a stop and pulled him from the passenger seat, then arrested him without a warrant.
“What makes you legal in this country?” officers asked him.
“I responded that I entered on humanitarian parole and had a pending application for my green card,” he said. “They told me to ‘Take it up with the judge.’ “
On Jan. 23, ICE moved Mulet-Zalvidar to Butler County, which has a contract to hold ICE detainees, according to the jail’s roster.
A federal immigration judge ordered Mulet-Zalvidar’s deportation on May 13, a decision his attorney is appealing.
His wife, Susana Pupo Rodriguez, launched a GoFundMe campaign to “free my husband and reunite us as a family” on Christmas Day. To date, the effort has raised $1,365 toward a $12,000 goal.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Cuban immigrant detained in Ohio jail challenges warrantless ICE arrest
Reporting by Patricia Gallagher Newberry, Cincinnati Enquirer / Cincinnati Enquirer
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Patricia Gallagher Newberry, Cincinnati Enquirer | USA TODAY Network
