The man whose secretive transfer between ICE detention centers over the holiday weekend sparked a tense standoff between protesters and federal agents in Newark has filed an emergency petition for release.
An attorney for Martin Soto argues in the filing in federal court for the District of New Jersey that his continued detention no longer serves the government’s purposes and has become punitive.
The filing urges a judge to immediately release Soto, whom immigrant advocates describe as an organizer of an ongoing hunger strike at the Delaney Hall detention center, back to his family.
The motion argues ICE is retaliating against Soto and his wife for their outspoken criticism of conditions inside the facility, a charge echoed by elected officials.
“At this point, petitioner’s detention no longer resembles ordinary civil immigration custody,” the filing by attorney Alexandra Minogue argues. “It has evolved into escalating punitive confinement marked by retaliatory termination of all family visitation, threats of solitary confinement, deteriorating detention conditions, allegations that detainees were served food containing worms, attempted movement during active federal habeas proceedings, and profound psychological harm inflicted upon a pregnant United States citizen spouse and medically vulnerable children.”
Neither the Department of Justice nor ICE responded to requests for comment. Government lawyers have not yet filed a response to Soto’s release request. It is unclear when the judge will rule on the emergency motion.
Soto has been in ICE custody since February, when he was detained by federal agents while out picking up diapers in Kearny. The Peruvian immigrant had been held at Delaney Hall in Newark until he was transferred to the Elizabeth Detention Center in Elizabeth early Monday.
Alongside Soto’s immigration case, he has also filed a habeas corpus case in federal district court. That’s where his attorney filed the emergency motion Monday. The judge in that case issued an order in March preventing ICE from moving Martin outside the state of New Jersey.
Soto’s wife, Gabriela Soto, has been a vocal advocate for her husband’s release and for the closure of Delaney Hall. Gabriela, a 28-year-old Kearny resident who has two children with Martin and is pregnant with a third, organized a rally of detainee families outside the Delaney Hall gate on Friday morning.
During that rally, Martin and other detainees called in and announced they had launched a hunger and labor strike inside the facility. Afterward, detainee families and immigrant advocates started a round-the-clock vigil outside of Delaney Hall in solidarity with the striking detainees.
Delaney Hall’s visitation hours include full-day periods on Saturdays and Sundays. Gabriela previously told Gothamist that when she went to visit Martin on Saturday, she was first pulled aside by facility staff who threatened to cut off her visiting privileges if the demonstrations outside continued. The couple’s visit that day was also cut short by staff intentionally calling Martin last, according to the filing, which cost them 20 minutes of scheduled time together.
Martin was told on Sunday he would be released, according to the filing. His belongings were returned to him and he was told to change into normal clothes, only to be cuffed and shackled and forcefully put in a transport van.
Word of Martin’s supposed release reached Gabriela, who immediately went to Delaney Hall, according to the filing. While she waited to greet Martin and bring him home, Gabriela instead saw guards put him in the van. Sally Pillay, an advocate with Eyes on ICE NJ, was with Gabriela at the time and previously described the scene to Gothamist.
“ We ran out [to] the van. [Martin] was banging onto the van. I clearly saw him in the van. He was the only one in the vehicle that they were trying to take out,” Pillay said. “He was still wearing his uniform. He was shackled, but he was banging furiously. He could see [Gabriela.] She was running frantically in and around the van.”
Protesters outside the fence quickly realized ICE was attempting to move Martin, and they formed a human chain in front of the gate to prevent the van from leaving. Word of the transfer attempt spread rapidly online, and the crowd of protestors grew throughout the evening.
The effort forced the van to retreat, thwarting Martin’s transfer temporarily. Minogue declares in the filing that when Martin was brought back inside Delaney Hall, he was thrown to the ground, accused of damaging the transfer van and placed in solitary confinement.
Meanwhile, visitation was suspended at Delaney Hall, which the filing argues is part of “escalating punitive conditions” Martin has faced, along with solitary confinement, excessive force from guards and degrading detention conditions.
“The timing is impossible to ignore,” the filing argues.
Martin disappeared from ICE’s online detainee locator after ICE’s initial transfer attempt, according to the filing, which included screenshots as evidence that searches for his ICE-assigned identification number returned no results. Gabriela, according to her declaration in the filing, was “terrified [Martin] would simply disappear into another detention facility somewhere far away from New Jersey and away from our children.”
As of Tuesday afternoon, Martin was showing up again in searches of the publicly accessible detainee locator website.
Rep. Rob Menendez, whose office has been working with the Sotos on Martin’s case, entered Delaney Hall’s gates around 8:30 p.m. Sunday and demanded to meet with Martin.
ICE refused to allow Menendez inside for more than 12 hours, giving shifting explanations. Menendez told WNYC on Tuesday he now realizes he was being kept in the dark as ICE worked to move Martin out of Delaney Hall.
“ I stayed there through the night. ICE refused my ability to enter, and it's pretty clear why,” Menendez said. “Because they were intent on moving Martin by any means possible.”
Gabriela was visibly distraught outside the Delaney Hall gate through Sunday night and into early Monday morning. Protesters attempted to block and inspect every vehicle leaving the facility for any sign that Martin may be inside.
“A pregnant mother caring for two children, including a medically vulnerable child awaiting surgery, should not have to spend nights screaming outside a detention facility believing her husband is being disappeared despite active federal court protection,” the filing argues.
No one knew Martin had been moved to the Elizabeth Detention Center until DHS announced the transfer in a statement from an unnamed spokesperson just after noon on Monday.
Minogue and Menendez were able to speak with him in Elizabeth on Monday afternoon.
“[Martin] appeared visibly ill and substantially underweight and displayed bruising to his arms, wrists, and ankles consistent with forceful restraint,” Minogue declared in the filings.
At the time the emergency motion was made, according to the filing, “[Martin] remains housed in solitary confinement conditions and wildly restricted to access to counsel as well as terminated visitation for his family.”
