Judge won’t release Mexican man jailed near Seattle

FILE - This undated file photo provided by the law firm Public Counsel shows Daniel Ramirez Medina, 23, who was was brought to the U.S. illegally as a child but was protected from deportation by President Barack Obama's administration. In a decision Friday, March 24, 2017, U.S. District Judge Ricardo S. Martinez upheld a decision not to release Medina, saying he should challenge his detention in immigration court. Immigration agents arrested Ramirez Feb. 10 at a suburban apartment complex after they went there to arrest his father, a previously deported felon. (Daniel Ramirez Medina/Public Counsel via AP, File) FILE - This undated file photo provided by the law firm Public Counsel shows Daniel Ramirez Medina, 23, who was was brought to the U.S. illegally as a child but was protected from deportation by President Barack Obama's administration. In a decision Friday, March 24, 2017, U.S. District Judge Ricardo S. Martinez upheld a decision not to release Medina, saying he should challenge his detention in immigration court. Immigration agents arrested Ramirez Feb. 10 at a suburban apartment complex after they went there to arrest his father, a previously deported felon. (Daniel Ramirez Medina/Public Counsel via AP, File)

By Associated Press March 27, 2017 4 min read

SEATTLE (AP) – A federal judge upheld a decision not to release a Mexican man arrested near Seattle, despite his participation in a program designed to protect those brought to the U.S. illegally as children.

In the decision Friday, U.S. District Judge Ricardo S. Martinez said “many questions remain regarding the appropriateness of the government’s conduct” in the arrest of 24-year-old Daniel Ramirez Medina. But the judge said he should challenge his detention in immigration court, a separate legal system run by the U.S. Justice Department.

The order upheld a previous decision by U.S. Magistrate Judge James P. Donohue.

Immigration agents arrested Ramirez Feb. 10 at a suburban apartment complex where they had gone to arrest his father, a previously deported felon. Agents said Ramirez acknowledged affiliating with gangs.

Ramirez, who is being held at a federal detention center in Tacoma, denies the claims. He has no criminal record and twice passed background checks to participate in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which allows people brought to the U.S. illegally as children to stay in the country and work.