Tomas Orellana, a Great Neck resident and father of eight who was detained by ICE in January, was transferred to Jackson Parish Correctional Facility in Louisiana last month.
No reason was given for his move after Claudia Orellana and her husband’s lawyer, Byron Quintanilla, had repeatedly asked DHS officials, they said.
But Quintanilla said he believes it was a tactical move to have Orellana appear before a more punitive judge, as has happened with other detainees.
Tomas Orellana was attending a mandatory probation visit Jan. 5 at a Mineola courthouse for a DWI conviction from 2023 before ICE detained him. This was Orellana’s second DWI.
Tomas Orellana was previously held at Delaney Hall, a New Jersey detention facility, and his wife said it took her two days with her lawyer to find out where he had been moved.
His wife said she was on her way home from a visit with her husband when she received a call from him telling her he was being transferred.
“I was like, ‘What do you mean? We just saw you like what, half an hour ago?’” she said.
Efforts to reach ICE were unavailing.
Tomas Orellana was denied a bail bond in New Jersey because the judge said he did not have jurisdiction over the matter.
Quintanilla said he consulted with 10 lawyers who affirmed that the judge did have jurisdiction over the matter and cited a federal ruling earlier this year that gave bond eligibility class certification to immigrants who entered the country legally.
He said he is trying to find relief for his client through several avenues—petitioning for cancellation of removal and filing a motion to vacate his 2023 DWI.
Claudia Orellana has also applied for an I-130 Petition for Alien Relatives to bring her husband onto a path towards legalization, but the process will likely take several months.
Quintanilla said he has a strong case since he has been living in the country for over 20 years and has eight children and a wife who are all citizens.
Tomas Orellana was in the country with Temporary Protected Status, but his renewal was denied in 2024 because of his second DWI.
Quintanilla said the Department of Homeland Security is using the recently passed Lakin Riley Act as justification for his detention.
The act mandated DHS to arrest non-citizens if they have committed certain crimes, such as burglary, theft, petit larceny, or shoplifting.
Tomas Orellana has not been indicted for any of these crimes, but Quintanilla said he thinks DHS will use his second DWI in 2023 as cause for his removal.
With her husband in a separate state, Claudia Orellana said she had to hire another lawyer for $5,000 to file a habeas corpus petition that would order him to stop being transferred.
Claudia Orellana said the expenses are piling up, and she is currently filing for public assistance through the Department of Social Services.
“Every paper you submit, there’s always a fee,” she said.
Tomas Orellana was the “breadwinner of the family” of 10, his wife said, but her oldest son is now helping support her and the younger children financially.
“They’re angry,” Claudia said about her kids.
Their 16-year-old son, Matthew Orellana, shared an essay he had recently submitted in English class about someone he admired.
He wrote it about his father.
“After that day, I didn’t feel normal anymore,” he wrote about hearing that ICE detained his dad. “I went to school and tried to act like nothing was wrong by acting like my normal self, but inside I felt completely lost.”
Claudia Orellana was choking up as she talked about her children. “It really destroys a kid.”
She said her husband described poor conditions in the facility. She said he banged his head on a metal bedpost and received no medical treatment, and that he has witnessed fights that the guards do not attempt to break up.
“You’re like an animal in a cage,” she said. “You have no rights in there.”
For a fee, his family has been able to keep in touch with Tomas Orellana over the phone. His wife said they pass the phone around and each kid has one minute to talk to their father.
She said her husband says to each of them, “Listen to Mom. I’ll be home soon.”
