Ravi Ragbir Will Return To New York As Court Case Proceeds

MANHATTAN, NY — Immigrant-rights activist Ravi Ragbir will return to New York as his lawyers continue to fight his detention in court, federal officials said Wednesday.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials agreed to move Ragbir from the Krome Detention Center in Miami, Florida to an immigration jail in the New York City area, U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman wrote Wednesday in a letter to U.S. District Court Judge Katherine B. Forrest.

Ragbir, a Brooklyn resident and co-founder of the New Sanctuary Coalition of New York City, was arrested Jan. 11 at a routine check-in with ICE, which planned to deport him to Trinidad. Ragbir's lawyers filed a lawsuit that day to get Ragbir out of jail.

"The designation of the particular facility in the New York City region at which Mr. Ragbir is detained is solely within ICE's discretion," Berman wrote.

ICE declined to say where it planned to detain Ragbir. The only detention center listed in ICE's New York City region is the Orange County Correctional Facility in Goshen, which is about a 90-minute drive up the Hudson River from Manhattan.

Lawyers for Ragbir and ICE are scheduled to face off in court Jan. 29 over whether he should be released.

Ragbir's arrest last Thursday sparked chaotic protests in front of the federal immigration offices near Foley Square. Police arrested 18 protesters, including City Councilmen Ydanis Rodriguez and Jumaane Williams. Immigration advocates also rallied over the weekend to call for Ragbir's release.

ICE decided to act on an 11-year-old deportation order against Ragbir last week, even though a stay on his deportation was in effect until Jan. 19. He was taken to Miami last Thursday afternoon without notice to his lawyers or his family, his allies said.

Ragbir's family and supporters celebrated his impending return but pledged to continue fighting to get him out of jail. Activists have praised him as a selfless, vital leader who has dedicated his life to supporting and protecting immigrants.

"When we learned he was taken to an immigration prison over a thousand miles away, I was both heartbroken and outraged," Ragbir's wife, Amy Gottlieb, said in a statement. "They never should have taken him away from his community in the first place, and I will not rest until he is free."

ICE has said it had previously exercised discretion in letting Ragbir go free. But lawyers for ICE could not explain in court Tuesday why he was arrested before the stay on his deportation expired, the New York Daily News reported.

Ragbir has lived in the U.S. since 1994. A judge ordered him deported in 2006 after he served a prison sentence for a 2001 federal wire fraud conviction. Ragbir has fought the deportation order and sought to overturn his criminal conviction since then.

The New Sanctuary Coalition is planning another rally for Ragbir on Thursday evening at the Varick Street Immigration Court.

ICE's decision to return Ragbir to New York came a day after the agency deported Jean Montrevil, another co-founder of the New Sanctuary Coalition, to Haiti. ICE arrested Montrevil Jan. 3. He was reportedly convicted of cocaine possession in 1990 but was allowed to stay in the U.S. after serving an 11-year prison sentence.

Advocates have argued Ragbir and Montrevil were targeted as vocal critics of immigration enforcement. Montrevil's lawyer is challenging ICE's decision to deport him.

"Why I was targeted, I have no idea. All I have done is take care of my kids, go to work and mind my business and try to stay out of trouble," Montrevil told Democracy Now! on Tuesday in a phone interview from Haiti.

(Lead image: Ravi Ragbir appears at a protest in March 2017. Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)