Tomás Orellana, a Great Neck resident and father of eight, who was detained by ICE in Januarywas transferred to the Jackson Parish Correctional Center in Louisiana last month.
The reason for her transfer was not disclosed after Claudia Orellana and her husband’s lawyer, Byron Quintanilla, repeatedly requested information from officials at the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS), they reported.
However, Quintanilla said he believed it was a tactical maneuver to have Orellana appear before a harsher judge, as has happened with other detainees.
Tomás Orellana was attending a mandatory probation visit on Jan. 5 in a Mineola court for a 2023 DWI conviction before ICE detained him. This was Orellana’s second DWI.
Orellana was previously held at Delaney Hall, a New Jersey detention center, and his wife said it took her attorney two days to find out where he had been taken.
His wife said she was returning home after visiting her husband when she received a call from him informing her of his transfer. «I asked him: ‘What do you mean? Did we see you half an hour ago?’” he said.
Attempts to contact U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) were unsuccessful.
Tomás Orellana was denied bail in New Jersey because the judge declared that he had no jurisdiction over the matter.
Quintana said he consulted with 10 attorneys who said the judge did have jurisdiction over the matter and cited a federal ruling from earlier this year that granted bail eligibility class certification to immigrants who entered the country legally.
He added that he is trying to find relief for his client through several avenues: requesting cancellation of deportation and filing a motion to vacate his 2023 DWI conviction.
Claudia Orellana also filed for an I-130 Petition for Alien Relatives so her husband can access legalization, but the process will likely take several months.
I had the TPS
Quintana stated that he has a solid case, since he has been living in the country for more than 20 years and has eight children and a wife, all citizens.
Tomás Orellana was in the country with Temporary Protected Status (TPS), but his renewal was denied in 2024 due to his second DWI (driving under the influence).
Quintana stated that DHS is using the recently passed Lakin Riley Act as justification for his detention.
The law requires DHS to arrest aliens if they have committed certain crimes, such as robbery, theft, petit larceny, or shoplifting.
Orellana has not been formally charged with any of these crimes, but Quintanilla said he believes DHS will use his second DWI (driving under the influence) in 2023 as cause for his deportation.
With her husband in another state, Claudia Orellana said she had to hire another attorney for $5,000 to file a habeas corpus petition that would order him to stop being transferred.
Claudia Orellana commented that expenses are accumulating and that she is currently applying for public assistance through the Department of Social Services.
“Every document you deliver has a fee,” he said.
Orellana was the breadwinner for the family of 10, his wife said, but his oldest son now helps financially support her and the children. “They are angry,” Claudia said of her children.
Her 16-year-old son, Matthew Orellana, shared an essay he had recently turned in in English class about someone he admired. He wrote it about his father.
“After that day, I didn’t feel normal anymore,” she wrote about learning that ICE detained her father. “I went to school and tried to pretend that nothing was happening, acting as usual, but inside I felt completely lost.”
Claudia Orellana’s voice choked when talking about her children. “It really destroys a child.”
She said her husband described the poor conditions at the detention center. He said he hit his head on a metal bed post and received no medical attention, and that he has witnessed fights that guards do not try to stop.
“You’re like a caged animal,” he said. “You have no rights in there.”
In exchange for a fee, his family has been able to keep in touch with Tomás Orellana by phone. His wife said they pass the phone and each child has 1 minute to talk to their father.
She commented that her husband tells each one: “Listen to mom. I’ll be home soon.”
