Federal judge Raúl Arias Marxuach on Wednesday ordered federal immigration agencies to bring back to Puerto Rico Sandro González Domínguez, a Mexican national and co-owner of the local restaurant company Callejeros. González, who has lived in the United States and Puerto Rico for 28 years, was detained by masked agents on September 26 outside one of the restaurants he co-owns.
He was later removed from Puerto Rico while a habeas corpus petition filed by the ACLU's Puerto Rico chapter was before the federal court. The ACLU filed the petition on the night of September 28 specifically to prevent his transfer out of the jurisdiction. Immigration agencies were informed of the case and knew of the proceeding, but his name stopped appearing in ICE's detainee locator system, which had previously placed him in San Juan.
ACLU Puerto Rico legal director Fermín Arraiza said in a statement that he was put on a plane hurriedly despite agents knowing the case was before the federal court, and called it an example of the authoritarian style of President Donald Trump. González has two U.S.-citizen daughters, ages 26 and 19. His company operates eight establishments in the archipelago and employs about 115 people.
Arraiza said he has community and family ties to Puerto Rico and illustrates how the migrant community sustains the local economy. Judge Arias Marxuach issued his opinion and order in response to the habeas corpus and was later informed of ICE's action through an urgent motion.