A federal court on Friday granted a motion for partial summary judgment in the case against the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office for allegedly detaining a U.S. citizen on grounds that he was an illegal immigrant. Peter Sean Brown was detained in 2018 for violation of probation, and received an erroneous immigration detainer from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Brown is not an immigrant, legal or otherwise. He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, raised in New Jersey, and has reportedly lived in Florida for the past decade. ICE was moving to deport him to Jamaica, a country which he once visited on a cruise. He has no greater ties to Jamaica than any other American who’s visited on vacation in their lives.
The Wrongful Detention of an American Citizen
Allegations against Monroe County claim that while he was in custody, Brown repeatedly pleaded that he was being wrongfully detained…only for jailers to mock him in a Jamaican accent and sing the theme to ‘The Fresh Prince of Bel Air’ (which includes the line ‘West Philadelphia born and raised). Brown even reportedly had evidence to show that he was a U.S. citizen by birth, but says he was deprived of the opportunity to present it. His appeals were ignored during his several weeks in custody.
Sheriff Rick Ramsay serves Monroe County, which encompasses the Florida Keys and some of the Everglades region of the mainland.
ⓒ Monroe County Sheriff’s Office
Only when Brown was transferred to an ICE facility in Miami was an immigration officer willing to view his birth certificate, and come to the conclusion that he’d been subject to a false immigration detainer. In the detainer, ICE had requested that the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office take Brown into custody after the unrelated case reached its conclusion. Brown had reportedly tested positive for marijuana, leading to a probation violation.
A lawsuit was filed by Peter Sean Brown against Monroe County Sheriff Richard Ramsay with representation from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), and Gibson, Dunn, & Crutcher LLP in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.
Documentation from last week’s partial summary judgment indicates that Brown’s fingerprints triggered a ‘possible match’ with immigration records, but that he was never interviewed by ICE about the discrepancy. It appears he may have been confused with another man, named Peter Davis Brown, who is not a U.S. citizen.
Citizens’ and Immigrants’ Right to Due Process
ACLU lawyers are touting the development as a win for due process rights in the United States, particularly as suspected immigrants nationwide are being placed into ICE custody without the due process rights guaranteed to citizens and non-citizens alike under the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution. The 1993 Supreme Court Case Reno v. Flores affirmed this right, with conservative Justice Antonin Scalia writing, ‘it is well established that the Fifth Amendment entitles [immigrants] to due process of law.’
“This case highlights the significant threat posed to U.S. citizens by frequent ICE errors, which are exacerbated when local law enforcement agencies participate in immigration enforcement,” said ACLU staff attorney Amien Kacou. “This case makes one thing clear: state and local police who act as ICE’s enforcers do so at their own peril. The Sheriff’s office cannot deflect responsibility onto ICE and ignore its independent duty to ensure there is probable cause before arresting someone like Mr. Brown. His perseverance in this lawsuit reaffirms that the U.S. Constitution protects every Floridian, regardless of citizenship.”
