Immigrant shot by ICE cannot be deported during his appeal, court rules

A federal appeals court temporarily blocked the deportation of a Portuguese immigrant who was shot and critically wounded by federal immigration agents in Maryland on Christmas Eve.

In a 2-1 decision, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals voted to halt the deportation of Tiago Alexandre Sousa-Martins while he challenges his removal from the country.

His attorney, Alice Barrett, who works for the immigrant advocacy group We Are CASA, said in a statement that she and her client welcomed a “decision that gives Tiago a chance to obtain the full process he is due to be able to fight against separation from his partner and children.”

The federal Department of Homeland Security and its Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Sousa-Martins, 31, came to America when he was 13 to visit his father but was forced to stay after his father confiscated his passport, according to court records. When his dad kicked him out of the house in New Jersey at 16, Sousa-Martins finished high school and earned a general contractor’s license.

Eventually, he settled in Baltimore, where he and his partner were raising two young children.

An electrical job took him to Glen Burnie on Dec. 24.

ICE agents said they encountered a white work van in the parking lot of a Lowe’s home improvement store. They ran the tags and found it was registered to Sousa-Martins, who they said had overstayed his immigration visa.

According to court records, the agents followed Sousa-Martins to a condominium complex, where they used their vehicles to box in his van. After agents smashed Sousa-Martins’ window, he drove toward a narrow path between two condominium buildings. Three agents opened fire. Sousa-Martins was struck in the right thigh and back, which damaged his spine and punctured a lung.

Federal prosecutors charged him with two misdemeanors for interfering with agents and damaging government property. Sousa-Martins’ lawyers said he suffered medical neglect in custody while awaiting a resolution to that case.

Last month, Sousa-Martins pleaded guilty to damaging two ICE vans in what a federal prosecutor described as a “fender bender.” A judge sentenced him to time served, citing concerns about ICE agents’ truthfulness.

He is currently being held at an ICE detention facility in Virginia, according to CASA.