U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents on Wednesday blamed the Biden administration for allowing a Brentwood man, now in custody, into the United States.
Maklim Gomez Escalante, 35, was detained Jan. 20 after arriving at a district court hearing where he had been subpoenaed to testify in an unrelated matter. His family says he holds a valid work permit that does not expire until 2030, is in the asylum process and has no criminal record.
He remains at the Moshannon Valley Processing Center in Clearfield County pending removal proceedings.
Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary for public affairs at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, confirmed in a statement that ICE arrested Gomez Escalante on Jan. 20, “an illegal alien from El Salvador.”
“He illegally entered the United States in 2021 and was RELEASED into our country by the Biden administration,” she said. “An application for asylum does not preclude immigration enforcement. The law requires those in the country illegally claiming asylum to be detained pending removal. You can look it up in the statute. He will remain in ICE custody pending removal proceedings.”
According to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, people may apply for asylum if they “are at a port of entry or in the United States … regardless of your immigration status.”
Once a person is granted asylum and is in the process, they are protected from being returned to their home country, are authorized to work in the United States and may apply for a Social Security number, according to the American Immigration Council. In addition, the AIC says that “while U.S. law provides arriving asylum seekers the right to remain in the United States while their claim for protection is pending, the government has argued that it has the right to detain such individuals, rather than release them into the community. Some courts have rejected this interpretation. …”
Also in the statement, McLaughlin confirmed Gomez Escalante began to show signs of stroke-like symptoms and a migraine Feb. 2.
“He was transferred to the Mount Nittany Hospital on Feb. 2 and subsequently cleared by hospital doctors and returned to the Moshannon Valley Processing Center on Feb. 4,” she said.
His wife, Natalia Garcia de Gomez, heard from a fellow inmate of her husband’s that he’d been taken to a hospital on Feb. 2. At that point, his whereabouts became unknown.
Two days later, when he was returned to Moshannon Valley, Gomez Escalante was able to contact his wife. He wasn’t allowed to contact his wife while receiving medical care.
Rebecca Mackin, a friend and former neighbor of the family, told TribLive on Monday that Gomez Escalante had been “handcuffed to the hospital bed at all times, with one hand being freed at meal times only.”
“It is a longstanding practice to provide comprehensive medical care from the moment an alien enters ICE custody,” McLaughlin said. “This includes medical, dental and mental health intake screening within 12 hours of arriving at each detention facility, a full health assessment within 14 days of entering ICE custody or arrival at a facility, and access to medical appointments and 24-hour emergency care. This is the best health care than many aliens have received in their entire lives.”
At the end of the statement, she encouraged “all illegal aliens to use the CBP Home app to take control of their departure.”
CBP Home is a mobile app of Customs and Border Protection that offers assistance and incentivizes people to voluntarily self-deport, according to the Department of Homeland Security’s website.
“The United States is offering illegal aliens $2,600 and a free flight to self-deport now,” McLaughlin said. “We encourage every person here illegally to take advantage of this offer and reserve the chance to come back to the U.S. the right legal way to live the American dream. If not, you will be arrested and deported without a chance to return.”
Gomez Escalante had a hearing Feb. 5 with a U.S. immigration judge in New Jersey over video. He is scheduled for another hearing Feb. 24.
