A 74-Year Old Korean suicided in ICE custody. He'd apparently done a ten-year penitentiary sentence for something, and then gone into ICE custody, to be deported to his native South Korea. There are many sob stories about him, all of which say that he committed "attempted murder with an enhancement for using a firearm," which, to be fair, is what the ICE press release says [South Korean man in ICE custody passes away in California, ICE, May 19, 2020].

He was the subject of a court decision refusing to release him, which is called 20-2604 - Ahn et al v. Barr et al, May 5, 2020, signed by Judge James D. Donato. [ PDF] Barr is the redoubtable William Barr, in his role as Attorney General. "Et al" is two other elderly felons awaiting deportation.

There seem to have been no legitimate medical issues with the three elderly deportable immigrants in custody, according to Judge Donato:

To start, there is not a single declaration from any of the petitioners themselves, and mainly just declarations from their counsel based on what petitioners said to them.  This is a surprising lacuna in the record because counsel did not aver or argue that they did not have reasonable access to their clients when preparing the TRO application.  The absence of any evidence directly from petitioners is not necessarily fatal for the application, but it certainly weakens its punch.  The lawyers’ declarations are also thin on the facts and unduly vague.  For example, counsel’s declaration for Ahn is equivocal even about basic facts like his age and country of origin.  Dkt. No. 1-4 ¶3(“On information and belief, Mr. Ahn is 74 years old.  The Department of Homeland Security alleges that he is a national of South Korea.”).  The declaration contains additional statements that undermine the reliability of counsel’s averments about Ahn, such as that “Mr.Ahn speaks limited English” and so communication was through a “professional telephonic interpretation service.” 

For petitioner Saeturn, counsel’s declaration similarly states “[o]n information and belief, he is a national of Laos,” and that he not only “speaks limited English” but s “also hard of hearing.”  ...  While the declaration states a telephonic interpretation service was used for Saeturn as well, it does not address any measures taken to address his challenged hearing.  A declaration by Moncada’s sister focuses solely on his mental health issues, …, which do not appear to be the basis of any claimed special vulnerability to COVID-19.

The lack of meaningful medical evidence for petitioners is also striking. The declaration submitted by Dr. Samuel Dickman, M.D., does little more than track the declarations of counsel that are themselves deficient.  ...6. Dr. Dickman states that he reviewed the “[m]edical records of Salvador Alfredo Moncada Hernandez,” but this appears to refer to the three pages of cursory notes that were submitted to the Court, which do not identify any conditions known to be COVID-19 risk factors.  …Dr. Dickman also makes wholly conclusory and speculative statements such as, “Mr. Ahn is virtually certain to have coronary artery disease,” without ever having examined Ahn or his medical records. …Overall, the evidence of petitioners’ medical vulnerability, which is a lynchpin of their TRO and habeas arguments, is thin to the point of vanishing, even with a relaxed application of the rules of evidence.

So what happened is some sleazy Treason Lobby lawyers, associated with the ACLU of Southern California, found some elderly immigrants that they could claim were so old they might catch the Wu Flu and die.

See

Attorneys Had Pleaded for His Release During Pandemic Because of Multiple Health Problems, 

ACLU of Southern California, May 18, 2020

Media Contact

ACLU SoCal Communications & Media Advocacy, [email protected], 626-755-4129
Centro Legal de la Raza, [email protected], 559-213-6841
San Francisco Public Defenders, [email protected], 628-249-7946

That's a press release. It doesn't say Ahn had ever done anything bad, like attempted murder, just that he was in custody and ICE wouldn't let him out.

However, here's what Donato said about why he wasn't letting them out:

The public interest factors of danger to the community and risk of flight also weigh against releasing petitioners. See  Winter, 555 U.S. at 20. Ahn was convicted of second degree murder; Moncada was convicted of attempted murder; and Saeturn was convicted of committing a lewd or lascivious act on a child under fourteen years and a subsequent failure to register as a sex offender.

When the Treason Lobby picks their sob story elderly immigrants, they're not picking their best.

Now it makes no difference to Ahn's case if he was an attempted murderer or a murderer. In either case he shouldn't have been let out, as the Judge said.

But I'd like to know, because either there's someone he tried to kill during Obama's first term who can now rest easy because he won't be let out, or someone he actually killed, whose family can now rest easy.

Which is it? The MSM is unlikely to let us know, but maybe readers with access to court records can let me know at [email protected].