Julio Colcas,55, Green Card holder who lived in NY-NJ for 40 yrs, had 2 old drug charges. ICE was detaining him in Newark but released him 6 months ago due to Covid. Then last week, ICE suddenly * re-arrested * him. Tonite he was apparently deported. And here's what's wild...1/9

Last Monday, he checked in with ICE -- as he has every month since his release. Last Wednesday, he said ICE called him & said there was something wrong with his ankle bracelet: Can you come in so we can swap it out? So he went to ICE's office in Newark, where he was cuffed.2/9

After 6 months out Colcas was brought back to the Essex County Jail's ICE detention. He is lucid, funny & smart, but he has physical & mental illnesses. A psychologist said he was suicidal, "emotionally fragile," and "not capable of defending himself independently" in court. 3/9

And yet Colcas has now apparently been sent to Peru, where he hasn't been in 4 decades, without his 2 kids. After his release 6 months ago, he was thrilled. He started working again. He hung with his grandson...A granddaughter was born Friday, 2 days after his re-detention. 4/9

When Colcas first got out in April, after 2 years in jail, he told me: "I was happy as hell...When I left everyone was clapping, yay! It gives them hope--by me leaving it gives them hope it could happen to them too." He got a job & didn't commit a crime. 5/9

So: Colcas was first released by ICE due to Covid. Yet he was returned to jail just as Covid cases creep back up in Essex County. Sure enough, when he got back to jail, he tested Covid positive, thereby endangering detainees & officers. He was put in solitary confinement. 6/9

When I spoke to him this morning, he was upset about missing his granddaughter's birth, and worried about having to spend many more months in ICE detention. He was not expecting to be deported, hours later. 7/9

I asked ICE's Newark Office why Colcas was re-arrested, and whether it's lying to him & others about busted ankle bracelets in order to make easy arrests. I got this short statement in response: "2 Peruvians were recently put on charter flights and removed to Peru." 8/9

That indicates Colcas is deported. I haven't heard from him.
--
More background on Colcas from when his unit at the jail went on hunger strike ( https://gothamist.com/news/covid-19-ice-immigration-hunger-strike-jail) and when he was first released in April ( https://gothamist.com/news/ice-quietly-releases-hundreds-local-immigrants-covid-19).
--
I'll update here, @WNYC, @Gothamist. 9/9

Headed on @AllOfItWNYC right now with an update on Colcas' case, and a broader look at Trump Administration immigration changes overall. Listen at @ http://WNYC.org  10/10

UPDATE: Colcas has NOT been deported. He just called me from jail. ICE in Newark hasn't explained why my q about why/how Colcas was re-detained was met ONLY with this cryptic reply appearing to mean deportation:
"2 Peruvians were recently put on charter flights & removed to Peru"