ICE starts deportation proceedings against Costa Mesa immigration activist

Costa Mesa immigrant-rights activist Luis Bravo was detained by federal immigration agents early Thursday, triggering an outcry from his supporters demanding that he be set free. He was released hours later.

Bravo, a 22-year-old community organizer with the Orange County Congregation Community Organization and Immigrant Youth United, said he awoke to a knock on his door at 6:42 a.m.

Two agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement took him to ICE’s Santa Ana office “to be photographed and processed, and they prepared paperwork to initiate deportation proceedings,” said ICE spokeswoman Virginia Kice.

“It will be up to the immigration court to determine whether Mr. Bravo has a legal basis to remain in the U.S.,” according to a statement released by ICE.

Bravo was taken into custody based on a lead provided by ICE’s Fugitive Operations Support Center, the statement says.

“He was arrested, here unlawfully, and because of a prior conviction for DUI he was targeted,” Kice said.

Bravo was convicted of driving under the influence in May 2013. He says he was born in Mexico and is not a U.S. citizen.

Bravo’s father, Enrique, a longtime immigrant-rights activist, said the two officers did not identify themselves as ICE agents. Bravo said they didn’t ask for him when they went to his door.

“It was sneaky. He came up here asking for someone else,” Bravo said.

When Bravo went to the door, he said, agents went through a list of names and mug shots until they identified him. Agents then escorted him to an unmarked car but did not tell him what was happening, he said.

“You’ll find out when we get there,” Bravo said an agent told him.

Some community members Thursday questioned whether the detainment was a way to intimidate the outspoken family. This is the first time a member of the family had been detained.

Bravo’s work has led him on marches across California, along with weeklong fasts, countless phone banks and canvassing efforts and even a stint camping outside a congressman’s office to demand immigrant rights.

“Most people come out and talk to agents out of fear,” Bravo said. “I spoke to them out of trust.” Two days earlier, Bravo led a meeting with Costa Mesa police officers focusing on building trust between law enforcement and the immigrant community.

Before Bravo arrived at the ICE office, his 20-year-old sister, Jessica, had already called organizers at the Orange County Congregation Community Organization.

“We began calling attorneys, blasting out cries on social media, press releases, email blasts,” said Minerva Gomez, 30, lead community organizer for OCCCO.

The group collaborated with the National Day Laborers Network and the Pacific Institute for Community Organizations on a national phone bank to demand Bravo’s release.

Bravo said the number of calls became so overwhelming that he could hear agents fielding calls in the office. At one point, he said, an agent went to his holding cell and told him to let his friends know that they needed to stop calling.

“I smiled when they told me that,” Bravo said. “I knew I wasn’t alone.”

He was released at about noon.

About 40 activists, friends and others welcomed Bravo home at a news conference amid banners reading “Not one more deportation.” Toward the end of the event, two Costa Mesa patrol cars rolled up in response to a noise complaint.

“You guys aren’t making much noise,” one officer said. “You’re exercising your First Amendment rights.”

“This is what it is like for the immigrant community every day,” said Monica Curca, an OCCCO spokeswoman.

Detainments of this type are not unusual, said Alexandro Nava Teodoro, a deportation defense coordinator for RAIZ, an immigrant youth network. Teodoro said the group has helped two other Orange County families with similar deportation proceedings since the beginning of September.

“It’s not uncommon. It’s practice,” Teodoro said. “ICE in 2012 came to my uncle’s house and were supposedly looking for someone else, but it was nobody from our family. We moved away, and three days later, when my uncle came to pick up his stuff, ICE was waiting for him and he got deported.”

Last month, ICE started deportation proceedings against Edgar Vargas Arzate of Santa Ana after agents stopped him as he was heading to court to defend himself against charges of attempted burglary, battery on a peace officer and other allegations in a case that gained national attention. Video of his initial arrest in June shows two Santa Ana police officers beating Vargas.