A “rookie” officer with Immigration and Customs Enforcement admitted in court that his “lack of experience" led to the “unlawful” detention of a longtime California resident, a "critical error" he later apologized for, The Washington Post reported on Tuesday.
Hired last summer during the Trump administration’s hiring blitz, ICE officer Nolan De Long was involved in the arrest of 55-year-old Carlos De La Garza last December, less than one month into his new job. De Long was tasked with filling out a report on Garza’s arrest – known as a Form I-213 – but due to what he told a court was his “lack of experience,” had filled out the form incorrectly.
De Long said that he had “used sample language from a different case” when filling out Garza’s I-213, but had “failed to delete the irrelevant portions,” the Post reported. In doing so, Garza was placed in detention based on the incorrect filing.
“He had misunderstood federal immigration jargon and believed that De La Garza’s residency bid had been denied – though it hadn’t,” the Post reported, citing De Long’s sworn statement filed in court, which was obtained by the outlet.
“He repeated his misunderstanding on a form that government attorneys cited in court to justify the detention. On the same form, he also wrongly reported that De La Garza had admitted to illegally entering the country in 2015.”
While in court, De Long apologized directly to Garza, telling him that he understood the “seriousness of this mistake.” Garza has since been released from detention.
A Homeland Security spokesperson acknowledged the mistake in a statement shared with the Post, describing it as a “paperwork error,” but downplayed its importance.
“The form was corrected by the officer’s supervisor and delivered to his attorney,” the statement read. “A clerical error should not stop us from being able to detain and deport criminal illegal aliens who threaten our communities.”