For the past month, the Isenberg Center for Immigration Empowerment (ICIE) in Dallas, Texas has been in constant battle mode to keep EDSON from being deported to Mexico. ICIE has stopped EDSON’s deportation every week since the matter was brought to our attention and we are continuing to fight.
Reverend Peter Johnson was sent to Portland, Oregon on Monday, October 29, 2012, to lobby for the immediate release of EDSON from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention. Reverend Johnson is perhaps the best known Civil Rights Activist in Dallas, Texas. He was the youngest colleague of the late Dr. Martin Luther King and was sent to Dallas by Dr. King. Reverend Johnson met with Hector Lopez, a young man also from Portland Oregon who has gone through similar circumstances as EDSON. Hector and Reverend Johnson met with EDSON’s parents and went to the Clackamas County Court to meet with Judge Thomas J. Rastetter, but Judge Rastetter was not in the courthouse.
Reverend Johnson was interviewed by KATU-Channel 2 outside the Clackamas County Courthouse. Reverend Johnson told the reporter, “You can’t have justice without mercy” after the reporter asked is EDSON should be deported to Mexico for his crime. Reverend Johnson further stated “that the time EDSON has spent in detention has been punishment enough for this young man.”
In Dallas, Texas, Chief Counsel, Arturo Rodriguez III, has filed 2 motions in the Clackamas County Court to try to get his sentence to be reduced to that of a misdemeanor. The only obstacle for EDSON’s sentence to be reduced to a misdemeanor is the Judge’s signature. Judge Rastetter has the motion sitting in his desk and all he needs to do is sign it. ICIE is surprised Judge Rastetter has not sign the motion, when everyone else is not opposed to the reducing the charges.
ICIE is getting ready to file another I-246 to stop his deportation, in case the Judge decides not to sign the order to grant him misdemeanor treatment. If the order is not signed, the I-246 that was filed previously will be denied. ICIE is ready to keep on the battle until EDSON is released from detention.
