'Freedom of speech is not for everyone': an immigrant was deported after participating in a film critical of the US authorities

Activist Claudio Rojas says he was deported to his homeland, Argentina, for starring in a film criticizing US immigration authorities. Writes about it NPR.

Photo: Shutterstock

Rojas is one of the stars of The Infiltrators. He was invited to present the film at the 2019 Miami Film Festival. Instead, Rojas was detained during a routine check-in with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

He was deported a few weeks later.

“They didn’t like the movie being released,” Rojas said. — If I showed up at the Miami Film Festival, I would talk a lot. And they wanted to avoid this. So they silenced me."

Immigrant rights advocates have argued for years that ICE is deliberately taking revenge on them, despite agency denials. Rojas 'lawyers say his case is particularly egregious and raises big questions about immigrants' freedom of speech.

The Federal Court of Appeal has heard the arguments in his case and is now ready to make a decision that could have long-term consequences.

Rojas lawyers call it retaliation, while ICE claims to enforce the law.

“You don’t want a situation where people think if you speak out the government will come after you. But that’s exactly what happened to Claudio,” says Alina Das, a professor at New York University School of Law who is representing Rojas.

On the subject: US relaxes procedures for issuing certain visas and suspension of deportation

ICE denies retaliation against Claudio Rojas or anyone else. The agency says it is simply enforcing immigration laws for people who live illegally in the country, including Rojas. He expired his visa more than 20 years ago and raised a family in Florida before being detained by ICE in 2010.

Rojas appears as himself in The Infiltrators. The film, which is part documentary and part staged, focuses on Rojas and a group of young activists who deliberately infiltrate an immigrant detention center to help bring others out.

At the end of the film, Rojas is released from ICE custody and returns to his family in South Florida. This was the case with Rojas in real life for the next seven years. According to his lawyers, he has no criminal record and regularly registered with ICE, trying to obtain a visa to stay in the United States legally.

Until the premiere of the film in early 2019.

“The only thing that changed right before they decided to arrest him was that the documentary showed his activism, his advocacy for immigrant rights,” Das said. “This timing of the arrest is clear evidence of First Amendment retaliation.”

But that may not be enough for Rojas to win in court.

The immigration authorities are free to choose who to deport.

It is widely accepted that the First Amendment applies to all residents of a country, whether they are citizens or not. In practice, however, courts tend to give immigration authorities more leeway with regard to deportation, said Michael Kagan, who teaches immigration law at the University of Nevada in Las Vegas.

“Millions of people live in the United States, a country that prides itself on freedom of speech. Yet the government holds a sword over their head, perhaps without any restrictions,” Kagan says.

Kagan says there is one Supreme Court decision that gives ICE more power: the case known as Reno v. American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (AADC).

You may be interested in: top New York news, stories of our immigrants and helpful tips about life in the Big Apple - read it all on ForumDaily New York.

“What this case said was that, essentially, the government's discretion to decide who to deport cannot be challenged,” Kagan says. “This is really bad news for immigrants.”

Court of Appeal decides if Rojas' case is "outrageous"

This ruling came about long ago when a three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments in the Claudio Rojas case last September.

Justice Department attorney Thomas Benton York argued that ICE followed all the rules when deporting Rojas — and therefore there is nothing he can do to challenge his deportation in federal court.

“This is a situation where the government does have discretion,” York said. “It is not in dispute that there is a final order of removal.”

But the Supreme Court ruling in the AADC case left the door open for a future deportation case, which, as Justice Antonin Scalia wrote, is so “outrageous” that it will cross the line.

Appellate judge Robin Rosenbaum asked during the hearing if Rojas' case fit this description.

While Rojas' lawyer argued his case, he was in Argentina, thousands of miles from his family - including a grandson he had never met in person.

“They took decisive steps against us, separating us from our family. And we pay a big price just for speaking out,” he said.

It is very rare for ICE to return anyone to the United States after deportation. But Rojas' lawyers say this is the only way to get justice done.

Less, they argue, will only confirm that freedom of speech does not apply to everyone.

Read also on ForumDaily:

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