Daniel Ramirez Medina: Protestors Plan #FreeDaniel Rally In Manhattan

TRIBECA, NY — Protestors are organizing a rally on Thursday evening in Manhattan to protest the slew of recent arrests by immigration officials, including the detention of DACA recipient Daniel Ramirez Medina in Seattle.

Activists are planning to rally outside 201 Varick St. in lower Manhattan on Thursday to demand Medina's release after the 23-year-old was detained by immigration officials last week. Medina's case has drawn sustained attention among the hundreds of arrests made by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials recently because he was granted protections under DACA, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, according to a lawsuit challenging his detention. Medina was brought into the U.S. from Mexico as a child and granted temporary permission to live and work legally in the U.S. under DACA, according to the lawsuit. Medina has no criminal record.

"The Trump administration has continuously attacked immigrant communities," the rally's organizers wrote on the event's Facebook page. "We rally in front of the Department of Homeland Security Building to demand that ICE #FreeDaniel and stop #ICERaids operations and arrests that are targeting everyone and tearing families falling apart."

A coalition of local activist and nonprofit groups is organizing the rally. It is scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. on Thursday.

Medina is one of more than 680 immigrants arrested and detained by immigration officials last week, including 41 people in the New York area. The arrests have drawn nationwide attention and set many immigrant communities on edge as they wonder whether last week's ICE detentions are the first step in President Donald Trump's campaign promise to deport millions of undocumented migrants. Federal officials have repeatedly claimed that last week's arrests targeted "public safety threats," but arrests of people like Medina, who has no criminal record, have moved immigrant rights advocates to demand more detailed data on the individuals arrested.

Federal officials, including Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly, have claimed last week's arrests were "routine" and say that about 75 percent of people detained had criminal convictions.

ACLU lawyer Lee Gelernt said in a Facebook Q&A on Wednesday that the raids were not typical of previous arrests conducted during the Obama administration.

"Contrary to what the administration is saying, these are not just serious criminals," Gelernt said. "We are seeing people without even any criminal conviction being arrested in these raids. It is far more widespread than under the Obama administration."

Lead image via Simone Wilson/Patch.