DAVID MAMARIL HOROWITZ

david.horowitz@bgdailynews.com

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement seized and detained a local teenager in Bowling Green who has legal authorization to be in the country, according to a Teranga Academy-partnered nonprofit.

Last Wednesday, ICE arrested and detained 18-year-old Ernesto Manuel-Andres, a recent Bowling Green Independent Schools graduate who attended Teranga Academy, without a warrant or deportation order, said Luma Mufleh, CEO of the nonprofit Fugees Family.

ICE arrested Manuel-Andres’ father in a parking lot by 625 Church St. and made him take them to the apartment at that address, said Mufleh, citing details shared by Manuel-Andres by phone on Monday. ICE arrested Manuel-Andres at the apartment despite him presenting his paperwork granting eligibility to be in the U.S., Mufleh said.

Manuel-Andres’ detainment comes as news dispatches across the U.S. detail accounts of ICE executing warrantless arrests of legal citizens and visa holders. The Wednesday detainment was one of at least three unofficial reports of ICE seizures across Bowling Green that the Daily News is working to confirm.

ICE transported Manuel-Andres to three detention facilities in five days, which had prevented him from meeting with an attorney in that time, said Mufleh, citing updates Manuel-Andres has made via a call he gets at each facility. Online records for Grayson and Laurel detention centers confirm updates that ICE detained him at those sites; on Saturday, Mufleh said, he identified his location at a detention center in Monroe, Louisiana.

Manuel-Andres has “no criminal history, no pending charges, no deportation order, and no reason to be detained,” Mufleh stated.

This she knows because Fugees Family — which has worked with refugee and immigrant youth for more than 20 years — had helped Manuel-Andres pursue a legal pathway to citizenship, and assisted him in obtaining a legal status, Mufleh said.

He retains legal authorization to stay in the U.S. through a Special Immigrant Juvenile (SIJ) status, a legal designation for youth who’ve survived abandonment, abuse or neglect, Mufleh stated. Meanwhile, he is legally protected from deportation through a program at the Department of Homeland Security known as Deferred Action, she added.

“He’s not undocumented: He went through every legal process he was supposed to go through, and yet he gets picked up, and they’re not releasing him, even though we’ve provided all the proof of his legal status in the United States,” Mufleh said.

Attorneys managed to contact Manuel-Andres on Monday for the first time since his detainment. Despite having 72 hours to file a Notice To Appear, which would have charges, ICE has not done so with either the attorneys or Manuel-Andres, Mufleh said.

“Technically, he’s being held without any charges,” she said.

Asked about the detainment and the grounds for it, ICE did not respond with any details, but only acknowledged receiving the questions.

Manuel-Andres has a bond hearing scheduled for June 18 in Indianapolis, Mufleh said, citing Manuel-Andres. The bond amount is estimated to be between $15,000 and $20,000, based on similar situations, Mufleh said.

An online fundraiser at GoFundMe, organized by Mufleh, states that it will direct all donations to “post Ernesto’s bond and support him and his family during this fight.”

Gary Fields — superintendent of the Bowling Green Independent School District — said it’s probably not appropriate to comment on the law enforcement action.

But he did open up about Manuel-Andres, who graduated three weeks before his detainment.

“I will say … We are aware of what’s happened, and we’re very proud of Ernesto and his work over the last few years to earn a diploma from our school district,” Fields said. “And we want nothing but the best for him, and we hope that in the end, that the legal system will play out the way it should for him and his status — that appears to be in good order for him to be here and be a productive citizen.

“I think we feel like his status is in order — his paperwork is in order.”

A student of the community

Asked if Manuel-Andres ever caused trouble in her class, Teranga Academy yoga teacher Elizabeth Heller let out a small laugh in spite of the circumstances, as if the notion were absurd.

“Never anything,” said Heller, who’s known him in his three years at the academy.

When there was trash on the floor, he picked it up, she said. When rags needed to be put into the hamper, he was there. When 50 yoga mats needed hanging, and some were left on the floor, he’d help without her asking, Heller said.

He liked to play soccer at the academy and was dedicated to Teranga’s martial arts class. When yoga was outdoors, he would always head for the swings, Heller said.

She and Mufleh described Manuel-Andres as calm and quiet. Still, Heller added, he showed up to school every day with a consistent desire to learn — to be the best version of himself and have a life here with his family and contribute.

“There are 20-something staff at Teranga, and we all consider Ernesto one of our own.”

Heller pointed to her own feelings as a mother of two adopted children.

“Love is love,” she said. “I can see it in the teachers that aren’t parents, per se: They know love, and they love Ernesto.

“I hope he can feel it wherever he is now.”

‘Could happen to anyone’

Mufleh recalled a sense of relief when she heard of the detainment — because, she said, it was Manuel-Andres, and he’s authorized to be in the U.S.

“I was kind of like: ‘Well, it’s Ernesto — he’s fine, they made a mistake, they’re going to release him,’ ” she recalled thinking.

That ICE detained him, of all people, shows it could happen to anyone, she said. She referred to accounts by national outlets of ICE executing warrantless detainments of people with legal status, including green card-holders and U.S. citizens.

“… The fact that he followed the law, and yet he’s in the detention center with a bond hearing (…) — everybody should be scared,” she said. “Wherever you stand on the immigration issue like this, it should terrify you that this is happening in the United States.”

Such fear has been evident in Daily News reporting for this story. Few were willing to speak due to fears of retaliation.

“They’re counting on nobody speaking,” Mufleh said.

Heller, the teacher, recalled learning about World War II from her father, who taught political science, and asking herself how it could have been real: “What the hell would I have done? Why didn’t more people say something? What were they afraid of?”

“On the other hand, that’s me now,” she said.

“Federal agents came into our community — without the cooperation of our sheriff’s department or police department and kidnapped (him) — and they (were) moving him without allowing him legal counsel, and he’s here legally. And we’re having to raise $20,000 to get him out of jail and get him back home.”

The Bowling Green Police Department and Warren County Sheriff’s Office confirmed they were not involved in Manuel-Andres’ detainment.

The fundraiser is at https://www.gofundme.com/f/free-ernesto-wrongfully-detained-by-ice-after-graduation

Horowitz covers general assignment and education for the Daily News via a partnership with Report for America.