A day laborer arrested during an immigration enforcement raid outside a hardware store in Pomona in April has been released from custody, but now faces release conditions that immigrant rights advocates call punitive. They’re also pushing for the release of two other workers still in detention.
Edvin Juarez Cobon and nine other day laborers, or jornaleros in Spanish, were arrested by Border Patrol at a Home Depot on April 22. Cobon was released on bond on June 13 under ICE’s Alternatives to Detention program, after being held for nearly two months at the Imperial Detention Facility.
Cobon, who is Guatemalan, is now required to wear an ankle monitor and is prohibited from working.
“I’m worried because my family depends on me,” Cobon said in Spanish. “I’m not someone who stays home. I want to be able to work to make ends meet.”
Alexis Teodoro, workers’ rights director at the Pomona Economic Opportunity Center (PEOC), said he’s never seen immigration officials restrict someone’s ability to work.
"I think it's part of the strategy of the administration doing everything it can, every step of the way," said Teodoro, "to make the lives of immigrants impossible so they can self-deport."
Russell Jauregui, a staff attorney with the San Bernardino Community Service Center and longtime immigration lawyer, echoed that.
“I’ve never heard of that condition, ever,” Jauregui said. “This is just cruel. What do they expect these workers to do? If they’re not breaking any employment law, then they should have the right to work.”
Niels Frenzen, the co-director of the USC Gould School of Law Immigration Clinic who helped represent Cobon, says the conditions imposed on him are punitive because day laborers are considered “casual workers,” not regular employees.
“It is unlawful for an employer to hire an employee without verifying that the employee is a citizen, green card holder or has a work permit,” Frenzen said in an emailed response. “But people, regardless of immigration status, can lawfully engage in casual work without work permits as long as the work does not turn into a regular job.”
ICE did not respond to questions about the conditions imposed in Cobon’s case.
Two other Guatemalan day laborers — Jesus Domingo Ros and Yoni Garcia — were granted bond on Monday, according to Frenzen. However, both remain in ICE custody. The other seven men arrested have since been deported, according to PEOC.
Teodoro said they’re trying to raise $18,000 to help Ros and Garcia post bail.
Meanwhile, Cobon said he isn’t a criminal.
“What we come here to do is work,” he said. “I think that’s what makes them uncomfortable. And honestly, if that’s the case, I don’t know what kind of people they want coming to this country.”
