The immigration attorney who claims she was shoved down and detained by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents at an ICE facility near Kansas City International Airport last year has filed a civil suit against the agents who assaulted her.
The suit was filed Thursday, Oct. 10 in the U.S. District Court, Western District, in St. Joseph.
Andrea Martinez, a native of Platte City, practices immigration law in Kansas City North and last summer made international headlines due to the incident, which occurred June 26, 2018. Martinez and her law partner Megan Galicia arrived at the ICE Enforcement and Operations Removal Office on Ambassador Drive at around 3:30 a.m. Martinez was there to reunite her 3-year-old client, Noah Bautista-Mayorga, with his pregnant mother, Kenia Bautista-Mayorga, just before the two were deported to Honduras. The family entered the United States seeking asylum in 2016 because Kenia Bautista-Mayorga feared abuse from her husband in Honduras.
Protestors and a Netflix documentary crew — which had been following the case involving Kenia Bautista-Mayorga for some time, as she was one of the first pregnant women detained by ICE — recorded the incident that followed. When Martinez and Galicia attempted to follow the boy and his step-father, Luis Diaz-Inestroza, who were being escorted by ICE agent Everett Chase — who is named in the suit — into the office, he stopped just inside the door and turned on Martinez.
“I was following him inside when he turned around and pushed me,” Martinez told The Citizen after the incident. She and Galicia both fell onto the wet concrete sidewalk.
In videos from protestors that went viral shortly after the event, Chase can be seen locking the door and going inside, but after a few moments he turns and comes back to the door. The witnessing crowd can be heard reacting in the video and Martinez shouted at the closed door. Chase unlocked the door and allowed only Martinez inside.
Once inside, she said she and Diaz-Inestroza — who was later taken into custody to begin deportation proceedings — were locked in a room where she was denied access to first aid for about 40 minutes.
After Galicia contacted the Kansas City Police Department, Martinez was eventually carried out of the building on a stretcher and transported to the hospital, where she learned she had a cracked bone in her foot. She also experienced dizziness and was later diagnosed with a mild concussion. She underwent an MRI to check for damage to her cervical spine (neck) and had to take antibiotics for treatment of an infection in the abrasion she suffered during the incident.
According to legal paperwork filed by American Civil Liberties Union attorneys, Martinez continues to seek counseling for the traumatic effects of the incident. In the suit, Martinez and her attorneys seek redress from Chase and ICE agent Ronnet Sasse, who was also present when she was shoved. Five counts are levied against the agents and Martinez is seeking a jury trial.
“The officers used excessive force in pushing Martinez to the ground causing serious injury and emotional trauma,” the complaint states. “They also refused medical treatment, illegally detaining Martinez inside the facility against her will, and illegally seized and searched her cellular phone.”
After an investigation by the Department of Homeland Security, the United States Attorney’s office issued a statement in February that no charges would be filed against Chase.
According to U.S. Attorney Timothy Garrison, Chase’s actions were justified due to the presence of protestors and the Netflix crew.