Wall Street Journal
By Alicia A. Caldwell
January 23, 2018
A Michigan doctor whose arrest by federal immigration officials last week has drawn national attention came under the scrutiny of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials after 18 encounters with local law enforcement, the agency said Tuesday.
ICE didn’t provide details of the encounters, or the time period over which they occurred.
Dr. Lukasz Niec, a 43-year-old native of Poland and green-card holder, was arrested a week ago at his Kalamazoo, Mich., home. A notice to appear in immigration court cited a pair of misdemeanor convictions from 1992, when he was 17, as the reason for his arrest.
His family and employer have said they are mystified by his arrest 26 years later.
The doctor’s detention has raised questions about the parameters of the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement.
The White House has directed immigration authorities to focus efforts on both illegal immigration at the border and arresting immigrants living in the country who are suspected, accused or convicted of committing a crime. While immigration officials have repeatedly said they are targeting criminals, anyone living in the U.S. illegally is subject to deportation proceedings if ICE or other federal agents encounter them. ICE said Tuesday that no class of immigrants will be exempted from immigration enforcement.
Dr. Niec has lived legally in the U.S. for nearly 40 years and is a green card holder, meaning he is a legal permanent resident. That status makes him more difficult to deport.
Dr. Niec’s attorney, Russell Abrutyn, said he suspects most of the 18 law-enforcement interactions ICE referred to are traffic tickets. “All I can figure out is these are traffic offenses he’s accumulated over the years,” Mr. Abrutyn said. “I think it’s telling that ICE didn’t provide any details.”
ICE said in a statement Tuesday that Dr. Niec’s two 1992 convictions—malicious destruction of property and receiving stolen property—were for crimes of “moral turpitude,” making him eligible for deportation.
Dr. Niec’s sister, Iwona Niec Villaire, said her brother had two brushes with the law when he was an adult. In 2008, he pleaded guilty to a charge related to drunken driving, she said, but the case was dismissed after he served probation through a diversion program. A jury acquitted him in a 2013 domestic violence case, she said.
Both Ms. Villaire and Bronson Healthcare, Dr. Niec’s employer, said they are baffled by his arrest.
“He followed all of the processes,” Ms. Villaire said, adding that her brother has renewed his green card multiple times.
Dr. Niec is being held by ICE in the Calhoun County Jail, about 100 miles west of Detroit, pending the outcome of his deportation case.
Mr. Abrutyn said a bond hearing is scheduled in early February, though ICE officials could decide to release him on bond before that. He plans to seek to have the deportation case dismissed and have Dr. Niec released on bond while it is pending.
Because of a yearslong backlog of more than 667,000 cases pending in immigration court, Dr. Niec’s case could take years to be resolved.
For more information, go to: www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com
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