In December, his sentence was repealed under legal bases, but the authorities want to deport him, says his lawyer
Juan Cancino, a legal resident of the United States, is one step away from deportation because immigration authorities refuse to accept the revocation of his criminal conviction issued by a judge of the California Supreme Court.
"The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Migration and Customs Service (ICE), do not want to let my client go free, even though there is no longer a conviction against him. They keep him illegally detained, ”says attorney Patty Corrales who for 17 years worked as a senior lawyer in national security and denaturalization cases for the then Naturalization and Immigration Service (INE) that later became DHS / ICE; And now he has his own legal signature.
37-year-old Juan Cancino has been in ICE custody at the Adelanto Detention Center since September 9, 2018.
“He was born in Guatemala, and we brought him here when he was nine years old. He lived in Lancaster in northern Los Angeles County. He is single, but he has a two-year-old son, ”says his mother Tesla Cancino.
And he adds that more than ten years ago, his son became a permanent resident of the United States.
Juan's problems began when in 2016 he had a fight with his brother and assaulted him with a knife.
While the brother did not file charges. Juan was arrested by the police and sent to prison for 18 months after pleading guilty.
Attorney Corrales, says that on the same day she left the state prison in 2018, she was arrested by immigration agents in order to deport him for committing a serious crime.
"During immigration detention, he applied for asylum, but was denied. On July 25, 2019, a judge in Adelanto ordered his deportation ”, accurate.
After seeing three lawyers who could not find a solution to avoid the deportation of Juan, his mother, already very desperate, went to see Corrales, who specializes in criminal and immigration matters. She was looking to see if this defender could do something to have her son's criminal conviction annulled, as it was the only reason to keep him deported.
“Initially, I told him that there was nothing to do. But after he left my office, something about the case started to bother me and a month later I called the mother; and I told him that I was going to try to help prevent his son's deportation, ”he says.
When reviewing the criminal case, the lawyer found that there was a legal error because the judge of the Superior Court who sentenced him to 18 months in jail, made an incorrect statement that is no longer allowed, making public his recommendation so that he would not be deported because the sibling lawsuit had been a family altercation.
“That made Juan trust himself. He never really understood that his residence was at stake. His lawyer also did not alert him to the dangers he faced when pleading guilty. His brother never testified against him, ”explains attorney Corrales.
In May 2019, he filed a motion to invalidate the criminal conviction, and on December 11, 2019, another judge of the Superior Court threw down the conviction of assault with a deadly weapon based on a legal and constitutional error.
“When a sentence is revoked on legal grounds, it ceases to be valid for migration purposes. I immediately notified my ICE colleagues to stop his deportation and release him, ”he says.
However, DHS and ICE do not accept revocation or want to free Juan. The lawyer asked the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit to order ICE to be released, but they have not had an answer.
“Meanwhile we ask for a hearing to request a bond that allows you to obtain your freedom. On January 29, the judge of Adelanto who was very conservative, fixed him a very high bond for $ 25,000. This is an amount that the family cannot pay, ”he emphasizes.
Tesla, Juan's mother, says his son is very depressed. “He also suffers from health problems, complains that two of his fingers and his left arm feel asleep. His back hurts, ”he talks.
She also says that she is very tired financially and emotionally because they have invested money and a lot of effort to get the son out of detention and avoid deportation to Guatemala.
“He has no one in Guatemala. What will you do over there? Here we are all his family. He needs to go free to get to work and see for his son, ”external Tesla.
The lawyer regrets that under Trump's administration, lawyers and judges do not follow the laws because they have a lot of pressure to exercise anti-immigrant policies and deport people.
“Juan was badly advised. You should never plead guilty and do so without knowing your rights and protections. Many criminal lawyers do not know the implications that this has for residents. They don't understand immigration laws, ”he says.
And he warns that if Juan is not released, the mother does not rule out suing ICE and DHS for refusing to follow an order from a judge.
The opinion is waiting for an ICE comment on the case.
