Baltazar “Rosas” Aburto Gutierrez, 35, an undocumented immigrant who spoke to The Seattle Times about his girlfriend’s arrest, says the U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement (ICE) agency detained him as retaliation for speaking to the press. His significant other got arrested by immigration authorities in one of many raids recently conducted in the Pacific Northwest.
ICE officials intersected Aburto Gutierrez Monday morning after he got off work and went to a local market for coffee. He told The Seattle Times that as he tried to park his car, he asked them, “Why are you arresting me?”
“You are Rosas,” the agent replied, according to Aburto Gutierrez. “My supervisor asked me to come find you because of what appeared in the newspaper.” Although Aburto Gutierrez’s name did not appear in The Seattle Times‘ publication, his nickname got mentioned on the Chinook Observer.
Lori Haley, a spokesperson for ICE, said, “We don’t retaliate.” She provided proof of Rosas’ arrest and detention but declined to comment any further on the allegations of retaliation on the part of the Federal agency.
Aburto Gutierrez lived in the United States for 18 years before getting arrested. Matt Adams, Northwest Immigrant Rights Project’s legal director, said the situation “certainly is troubling,” noting that the First Amendment right to freedom of speech probably got violated in Aburto Gutierrez’s case.
This article was inspired by SeattleTimes // ICE tracks down immigrant who spoke to media in SW Washington: ‘You are the one from the newspaper’