Tomas Orellana, a Great Neck resident and father of eight who was detained by ICE in January, was transferred to Jackson Parish Correctional Facility in Louisiana last month.
No reason was given for his move after Claudia Orellana and her husband’s lawyer, Byron Quintanilla, had repeatedly asked DHS officials, they said.
But Quintanilla said he believes it was a tactical move to have Orellana appear before a more punitive judge, as has happened with other detainees.
Tomas Orellana was attending a mandatory probation visit Jan. 5 at a Mineola courthouse for a DWI conviction from 2023 beforeICE detained him. This was Orellana’s second DWI.
Tomas Orellana was previously held at Delaney Hall, a New Jersey detention facility, and his wife said it took her two days with her lawyer to find out where he had been moved.
His wife said she was on her way home from a visit with her husband when she received a call from him telling her he was being transferred.
“I was like, ‘What do you mean? We just saw you like what, half an hour ago?’” she said.
Efforts to reach ICE were unavailing.
Tomas Orellana was denied a bail bond in New Jersey because the judge said he did not have jurisdiction over the matter.
Quintanilla said he consulted with 10 lawyers who affirmed that the judge did have jurisdiction over the matter and cited afederal rulingearlier this year that gave bond eligibility class certification to immigrants who entered the country legally.
Source: LI Press
