Last week, Renatho Casseus was attending classes at San Diego City College like any other student. Now, he’s being held in a building surrounded by barbed-wire fences.
Just over a week after the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arrested Casseus near San Diego City College, the student faced his first bond hearing at Otay Mesa Detention Center. Casseus was denied bail. The incident continues to reverberate through the City College community.
City College president Ricky Shabazz has been closely following the case. He was at the 8 a.m. bond hearing.
“What I saw was a young man who very simply said get me out of here so I can go back to school,” Shabazz said. “And the fact of the matter is that he’s caught between a political system and an immigration system that is broken. And we’re doing everything we can to provide support to the family at this time.”
Casseus is a Haitian immigrant who is seeking asylum in the United States, his attorney said. Shabazz said the young man supported his family by driving his parents to and from work, working part-time jobs while in school, and attending San Diego City College in hopes of continuing to build a better life.
Since his detainment, the San Diego City College community has raised more than $10,000 to support Casseus’ legal fees. Since his detainment, the San Diego City College community has raised more than $10,000 to support Casseus' legal fees. The judge in the case, however, ruled that they lacked the jurisdiction to release Casseus on bail.
Casseus' attorney, Wismick Saint-Jeans, said his client's continued detainment will prevent him from making substantial progress on Casseus' pending asylum case — a process that goes much smoother when working together in person
“He could come to my office where we can sit down and talk about this. We can help him craft declarations, and then have him fill out his asylum application, and tell him what evidence we need to help prove his case,” he said. “All these things need to be done, I can’t do them with Renatho being on the (inside).”
Casseus' arrest came months after the Supreme Court ended Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitian and Syrian immigrants. But removing TPS does not automatically mean Haitians seeking asylum are in the country illegally, Saint-Jeans said. Many Haitian people who applied for TPS have also applied for other immigration benefits.
“All those benefits are still in place and are preventing deportation,” he said.
The incident has caused an outpouring of both anger and support at San Diego City College. The plaza near where Casseus was taken into custody is now covered in anti-ICE messages and protest art.
Some students and faculty are urging lawmakers to consider new legislation that could help create a safer space around the inner-city campus.
“I do think we our administrators and local politicians need to help us to create this legislature so that way we feel safe coming to class consistently and people don’t feel like they have to drop out or miss class and fall behind,” said Zavahna Chavarin, who is a student and member of several social justice groups on campus.
Because San Diego City College is situated in downtown’s urban landscape, Chavarin hopes that new laws could help extend protections against immigration enforcement beyond the campus’ boundaries. That includes protecting the bordering city streets students must cross to reach many of their classes.
Students and faculty are also calling for an investigation into City College campus police who were present on the day of his arrest.
Footage from the arrest shows ICE agents speaking with a campus police officer, according to professor Mona Alsoraimi-Espiritu. It is unclear what transpired in the conversation. But witnesses of the event claim that the officer may have helped direct traffic before Casseus’s arrest, making it more difficult for him to escape.
“To anybody who sees that, what it looks like is that they made it easier for ICE to do their jobs,” Alsoraimi-Espiritu said.
The district policy prohibits public agencies from participating in immigration enforcement activity. If approached by ICE, City College employees have been instructed to ask agents to leave campus.
“That to me is the only appropriate way to respond to these situations because anything more than that is helping them,” she said.
The student group Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) has filed formal complaints with the district regarding the campus police activity. They are asking for an investigation and for the officer involved to be placed on administrative leave.
The Academic Senate, a faculty-led governing body, also passed a recent resolution advocating for police accountability.
