Did detainees have legal status?

SANDUSKY — It appears that at least two of the three individuals arrested by Border Patrol in Sandusky earlier this week were legal residents allowed to live and work in the United States. The newspaper reviewed documents purporting to show that two of the three arrestees have valid Ohio identification cards. The newspaper is still attempting to locate documents for the third. The two also appeared to have valid Social Security cards and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Employment documents, known as an EAD. An Employment Authorization Document is an identification card that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services issues to certain qualifying foreign nationals to work in the United States. The card is also known as a work permit and is issued to U.S. immigrants whose immigration status legally allows them to work. EAD provides temporary employment authorization to noncitizens in the United States, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services regulations. What happened? Two individuals who told bystanders they were Border Patrol agents arrested migrants outside of an ethnic grocery store in the 1100 block of Cleveland Road Monday evening. According to witnesses, two men in an unmarked vehicle detained three Hispanic individuals and "took them to Port Clinton detention." An employee of the store, who asked to be identified only by her first name, Lupe, over fears of retaliation, told the newspaper the three are regular customers whom she knows are here legally, a fact echoed by other witnesses in attendance who claim to know the arrested individuals. "They are not criminals, they are not violent," Lupe previously told the newspaper. "They are here legally. It's a brother and sister and her friend." According to Lupe, who witnessed the episode and spoke with the agents, they were there "for the brother" and since he was with two other individuals, his sister and friend had to be detained as well. "They said they had a picture of the brother, that they saw the brother and so they could take them all," Lupe said. A bystander showed the newspaper a video of the agents and one appeared to have a partially covered badge on his tactical vest, and the others did not appear to have badges. From the video reviewed by the newspaper, the agents' attire did not appear to clarify who they worked for. The agents, while wearing tactical equipment, were dressed in plain clothes and did not have any "police" markings. A witness said one agent referred to himself as a member of Border Patrol. Where are they now? The three's arrests by government agents from a public space in Sandusky highlights incidents around the country of legal residents and documented immigrants being arrested and detained with government officials refusing to identify arrestees, publish the charges they are held on or even give the detainee's location. Recent detentions within Sandusky over the past several weeks have brought the idea of habeas corpus to the forefront of local immigration discussions. Habeas corpus is a legal procedure invoking the jurisdiction of a court to review the unlawful detention or imprisonment of an individual, according to Black's Law Dictionary. Sandusky has seen several recent detentions with authorities refusing to identify the individuals arrested, the charges they are being held on, the location of detention or the arresting agency. Numerous calls and emails to Border Patrol, FBI and Immigration and Customs Enforcement have gone unreturned.