SPOKANE, Wash. — Former Spokane City Councilman Ben Stuckart was emotional Thursday morning as he explained why he blocked an ICE bus, leading to his arrest and protests across the city.
Stuckart said he protested for Cesar, a 21-year-old asylum seeker who became his legal ward through a state vulnerable youth program. Stuckart believes since Cesar turned 21 yesterday, his guardianship had ended.
Stuckart says Cesar was detained during what he thought was a routine check-in.
Latinos en Spokane is providing legal help to both Cesar and Joswar, another detained Venezuelan man in his twenties. The organization says both men were randomly texted to come in for a check-in, then detained without due process.
“It’s not right. It’s not morally right,” Stuckart said. “It was my goal all day long. Just, free Cesar and Joswar.”
Latinos en Spokane says this type of detention is happening often with their clients right now. The organization describes both Cesar and Joswar as phenomenal individuals who were hardworking and had been employed in construction and at Walmart using work permits until recently.
The protest started Wednesday afternoon with about a dozen people. By evening, hundreds had joined. Latinos en Spokane attended the protest to support their friends, as the two young men are more than just clients to the organization.
“It escalated throughout the day as you know… things grew bigger and bigger,” Stuckart said.
Stuckart said he didn’t expect the massive response.
“Things just went from tiny, to enormous very quickly or over time and then got really big. But no, I didn’t anticipate that,” he said.
Police arrived around 6:30 p.m., followed by the Sheriff’s Office. Stuckart was arrested around 7:30 p.m. on failure to disperse charges.
Stuckart criticized how police handled the situation.
“The whole situation should have been started from when the police showed up with their de-escalation team. And I’m severely disappointed from my conversations with the chief and the mayor that the de-escalation they promised did not happen,” he said.
Despite his arrest, Stuckart was grateful for community support.
“Spokane really showed up, and there were hundreds of people fighting for these two young men. And when you hear people, hundreds of people chanting, ‘Let them go,’ you know people care,” he said.
The protest failed to stop the detention. Cesar and other detainees were taken away in busses just before 9 p.m. Wednesday night.
“It just makes me really sad, to think about them in Tacoma,” Stuckart said.
An ICE spokesperson said the agency “fully respects the Constitutional rights of all people to peacefully express their opinions. That being said, ICE remains committed to performing its immigration enforcement mission consistent with federal law and agency policy.”
Latinos en Spokane continues to provide legal help to both men in Tacoma. The organization says they were ripped away from their community and fears this could become normal where immigrants go to check-ins and are detained without due process.
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