A 25-year-old Guatemalan man who had no prior police or criminal record, according to his family, was detained by U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agents on Monday at a gas station in Framingham, Massachusetts.
The arrest took place around 6 a.m. at a Shell gas station. Daniel Orellana was on his way to work when he was intercepted by ICE patrols. Now, his desperate family is demanding justice, claiming he was wrongfully detained.
“It’s not fair that he’s going through this and being treated like a criminal,” said Arquimedes Orellana, the young man’s father.
Orellana said ICE intercepted Daniel with their vehicles and asked him: “Are you this person?”
“My son answered, ‘I’m not that person. I don’t know him.’… ‘Do you know him?’ ‘No, I don’t know him, I don’t know who he is, I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m going to work right now, and let me answer my phone because my boss is calling me.’… And they took his phone and, when they asked him his status, they obviously took him,” Arquimedes Orellana said.
Enrique Martinez, a Shell gas station worker, confirmed to Telemundo Nueva Inglaterra that the arrest took place inside the gas station and the vehicle was left abandoned.
After several hours of searching, his family managed to get hold of Daniel’s vehicle, and that evening they learned his whereabouts.
“We received a call from him saying that ICE had him,” his father said.
Zulema Alfaro, Daniel’s girlfriend, said she has been in contact with Daniel. “He has communicated with me, letting me know about the situation and that it was a misunderstanding, and they told him, ‘OK, but we’re going to take you anyway.’”
The Orellana family arrived from Guatemala fleeing violence there three years ago. Daniel was about to graduate with a law degree but had to leave everything behind to emigrate to the United States for his own safety, but without documents.
“I’m not against what the government is doing,” Arquimedes Orellana said. “I mean, I know the government is working to improve the country. I mean, he wants to see the country prosperous, and that’s excellent, but it’s not fair that they take innocent people, people who are productive for the country.”
A lawyer is assisting the family with the case, and they expect news in the coming hours.
Daniel is being held in an immigration detention center in Plymouth, and his family hopes this unfortunate confusion will be resolved so he can return home in the coming days.
Telemundo Nueva Inglaterra has requested information from ICE regarding the arrest but has not yet received a response.
