Early this afternoon a federal agent wearing a “Pro-God. Pro-Gun. Protected” t-shirt showed up outside a courtroom in the Northhampton County Courthouse to arrest 32-year old Franklin Urutia-Cordon, who was scheduled to appear in court regarding a plea deal for a 2017 DUI. It seems that was enough to bring the full force of the federal government down on Urutia-Cordon and his family. Urutia-Cordonn is an immigrant married to a U.S. citizen. He has an application pending for legal status. According to court documents obtained by Raging Chicken, Urutia-Cordon is now sitting in York County Prison.
The confrontation and the arrest were captured on video and provided to Raging Chicken Press earlier this evening. As you can see in the video, Urutia-Cordon’s attorney repeatedly demands the ICE agent produce a warrant to no avail. First, the agent claims that the warrant is in his car. Then he says he is making an “administrative warrantless arrest.”
In a Facebook post following the incident, his attorney Joshua Fulmer said that “after 14 years of practicing law, today was a first for me and possibly the most disturbing day I’ve ever had in Court.” Fulmer was representing Urutia-Cordon for the DUI, not for his application for legal status. Fulmer recounted what happened as they arrived in court today to enter a plea deal regarding the 2017 DUI.
Upon arriving at the courtroom, I noticed a detective from the DA’s office standing in the hallway with someone who very clearly was a federal agent. The t-shirt that read “Pro-God. Pro-Gun. Protected” was kind of a giveaway. He confirmed that he was there for my client. I asked for a warrant, and he told me I don’t have a “G-28 on file,” and he can’t show me the warrant. A G-28 is the form for entering an appearance in Immigration Court. To be clear, I am not an immigration attorney, and I do not represent him in immigration court. He has an immigration attorney assisting him with his application for lawful status. The fact that I’m not his counsel of record in immigration court has no bearing on his ability to show me the warrant…
…Upon exiting the agent stops my client and when asked for the warrant he claims it’s “in his car.” When I confront him and tell him that he’s required to show the Defendant the warrant, either a paper copy or a digital copy, he claims that he is making “an administrative warrantless arrest.” As you can see he also tried to get the person recording to stop.
Just to be clear, my client has never been convicted of any criminal offense. He pays taxes, he works, he supports his family and is doing everything possible to one day become a U.S. citizen. And now he’ll likely sit in jail for months until he’s sent back to a country he hasn’t seen since he was a teenager.
Immediately following the arrest, Make the Road PA was demanding answers and wants to get Franklin back home with his family.
#BREAKING 🚨: Franklin Urutia-Cordon was detained during a lunch break in Northampton County, PA, after a judge ordered the courthouse to close & asked everyone to step outside where ICE was waiting to arrest him. We want answers & we want Franklin back w/ his fam! #AbolishICE pic.twitter.com/hSmcpNOzF0
— Make the Road PA🦋 (@MakeTheRoadPA) March 2, 2020
This is the America we live in. On the eve of Super Tuesday, everyone heading to the polls should commit to end the terror of ICE and put people – all people – first. We will continue to follow this story as it develops.
