Detained by ICE, an NC man couldn’t talk to his attorney for a month
.jpg "A man who has for 22 years lived in Gastonia was severed from the lawyer representing him in federal court when Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents took him into custody.")
Arturo Altunar wears two ankle monitors — one from a federal judge and one from federal agents.
The duplicate devices coupled with the North Carolina man’s monthlong detainment that cut off access to a lawyer provide a glimpse into the U.S. judicial system’s disjointed relationship with Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.
At least 100 ICE agents detained Altunar and 30 others at a Kings Mountain fire extinguisher plant in the middle of a Wednesday work day in June.
In early July, Altunar, of Gastonia, was charged in Charlotte’s federal court with illegal reentry into the country from Mexico. During the proceedings, federal defenders questioned whether ICE agents read Altunar and others their Miranda rights while interviewing people in Buckeye Fire Equipment’s hallways.
In a mid-July motion hearing, Altunar’s court-appointed lawyer, who is also Charlotte’s top federal defender, argued that Altunar was not a flight risk and should be released. His wife of 22 years, their three children, one grandchild and his church are all here in North Carolina.
District Judge David Keesler granted Altunar’s release under the condition that he wear an electronic monitor.
But before probation officers could clasp the device around Altunar’s ankle, ICE agents took him back into custody and kept him for nearly a month, from July 11 to Aug. 6, according to a motion John Baker, Altunar’s lawyer, filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina.
That second detainment meant Altunar could not communicate with Baker. In his Tuesday motion, Baker asked District Judge Max Cogburn to continue the case so he could have more time to consult with Altunar before his scheduled hearing next week.
If granted, ICE’s detainment will have delayed Altunar’s case.
100 ICE agents near Charlotte
Altunar is one of at least eight people charged after ICE raided Buckeye Fire Equipment June 25.
ICE spokesperson Lindsay Williams previously told The Charlotte Observer the company allegedly committed “rampant” identity theft and hired immigrants who lacked proper documents and used fraudulent Social Security numbers.
As of Wednesday, only the workers have been charged. The company has not.
Altunar and the other defendants have open federal cases relating to the raids.
