Miami-Dade New Immigration Policy Snags U.S. Citizen

WLRN 91.3 FM | By Nadege Green

Published July 5, 2017 at 8:35 PM EDT

Garland Creedle, 18, was detained by Miami-Dade County at the request of federal immigration officials, even though he is a U.S. citizen, according to a lawsuit filed by the ACLU of Florida.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Florida is suing Miami-Dade County and Mayor Carlos Giménez for complying with a federal request to detain inmates who are in the country illegally.

The lawsuit is seeking to overturn the county's new policy after an 18-year-old U.S. citizen — who cannot be deported — was detained.

Garland Creedle was arrested after an alleged domestic dispute in March. According to the ACLU lawsuit, after he was fingerprinted in jail, Miami-Dade County Corrections received a request to hold him because he was believed to be in the country illegally.

The lawsuit says immigration officials got it wrong. Creedle is a U.S. citizen and should have been allowed to be released on bond.

Instead, he spent a night in the county jail and, after an interview with an official from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he was released.

The ACLU maintains he should never have been detained on the immigration hold in the first place. Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Giménez declined to comment.