Need help with information about jail, detainers and ICE.

[kydo]

Last night sucked. I found out in the morning that a friend was in jail. Normally the don of cheeto's rants don't get under my skin, but wednesday nights did. Every time he mentioned putting detainers on un-documented immigrants in jail and deporting them, he was talking about my friend. I was so disgusted!

Anyway here is the story.

I am in Central FL, Seminole county. I have a friend who is from Jamaica. He has been in the states since the late 1980's, he is 62 years old. We have been friends since 1996. He has two kids that were born in the states. He was married once briefly in the 1990's to an American. Sadly back in like 1990 he was staying in California in a house with multiple people and it was raided, weed was found everyone was arrested, he had no money so no real lawyer, did not quite 2 years in county jail, was released. He moved here to FL, I lived next to his cousin that's how I meet him. Ok all is mostly cool for him over the next 20 years. He had some misdemeanor traffic issues and back in 2014 got pulled over then got his first ticket for driving with suspended license. That's when it came up that he did time 20 years ago. He wanted to get that removed so he could apply for US citizenship but there is a huge lawyer fee. He can't just have the court remove it even though it has no reason to still be on his record. He has to hire a lawyer in California to file the motions and appear before a judge to have it removed. He doesn't have that type of money, so he has been saving up.

In July 2016, he got pulled over again, minor traffic thing, and of course his license is still suspended so now he has his second suspended license violation. All still misdemeanors. On Aug 25 he got pulled over for failing to come to a complete stop at a red light before making a turn. And of course that's now his 3rd driving with suspended license.

According to the Seminole County Sheriff's Office website my friend is listed as an inmate but it says "Inmate may not be bailed." On the charges it says this:
# Charge Court Case # Bond Court Date Disposition
1 DWLS 3RD OR SUB OFF ********* $2,000.00 *******
2 HOLD FOR IMMIGRATION / DETAINER IN FILE 08.27.16 $0.00

I removed the court case number and court date.

Ok, I know DHS and ICE have only 48 hours to take a person into custody once the detainer is on file, with the exception of saturdays, sundays, federal holidays. Aug 27 was a Saturday.

Now also according to "Detailed Information for Case #*******"

20 08/26/2016 PDPD ASSIGN ATTORNEY - NAME: NOT INDIGENT

what does that mean?

and what about this
13 08/26/2016 MNFD DEFENDANT INDIGENT, APPOINT PUBLIC DEFENDER

(BTW, all this info is public record and on the sheriff's website, so nothing is private info.)

Does that mean he has no lawyer? Because right now according to the sheriff's office website my friend should be able to make bail as the detainer is way pasted 48 hour mark.

How do I fing out who his lawyer is or if ICE has taken him into custody and how can I help him?

Any links and info would be great!

Thanks in advance.

[pkdu]

1. Looks to me like you have entry 13 and 20 out of sequence ( they read from bottom up)..

ie

"13" records that he is indigent , so cant afford a lawyer , therefor "APPOINT PUBLIC DEFENDER"

"20" changes that to "Not Indigent" ...so implies he can afford his own attorney , so he likely has.

I know that doesnt help much

As for ICE , Hopefully you dont find him in here..

https://locator.ice.gov/odls/homePage.do

[kydo]

3. Thank You!

And no his name wasn't there at least yet.

On the numbering, I did only include those to entries. On the Seminole County Clerk's website it is listed last to first. The last entry so far is #20.

Many thanks for the link!

[cwydro]

2. Why does he keep driving with a suspended license? I assume this means he has no insurance.

That's a wrong thing to do. Period.

[kydo]

4. Yes it is wrong, and stupid

And not something I would have done. But many times we all do really dumb things. I do believe he was either going to work or coming home from work for the last two arrests.

If he gets out, I am taking his mo-ped that's what he drives.

[cwydro]

5. He has done it more than twice. And he is 62!

Yeah, I've done dumb things. But I think if I got arrested, that might make a mark.

He's not learning.

If you're his friend, he needs a wake-up call.

[kydo]

6. Don't you think I know this?

But do you think he deserves to be deported because of this?

I don't.

And I don't think the police or any other law enforcement agency should be holding someone passed when they legally can.

[Warpy]

7. If you have buckets of money or own a business, you can sponsor him

and possibly get him out of jail that way, but you have to ensure that he will never become dependent on welfare or any other aid to the poor, something that gets tough for a 62 year old man. I have a friend who owns a business and sponsored someone who got caught between La Migra and a messy divorce.

Other avenues, like claiming refugee status, are closed and would be even if he didn't have that prior conviction for whatever it was in California. Unfortunately, ICE doesn't give a damn about his kids beyond recognizing their status as citizens.