An undocumented immigrant truck driver says he’s being detained unlawfully, after he asked for help in finding out who broke his mirror in Sweetwater County, and that led to an encounter with law enforcement.
Vazha Gelashvili was arrested in Green River then held briefly last week in the Sweetwater County Detention Center, court documents say. He’s now in ICE custody in Aurora.
A new Wyoming law requiring holders of non-domiciled driver’s licenses to show proof of lawful presence in the nation prompted the man’s detention initially, authorities say.
Gelashvili filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus last Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for Wyoming.
Through his attorneys Devon Petersen, of Fleener Petersen LLC, and Adam Boyd of Palladino, Isbell & Casazza LLC, Gelashvili argues that a new U.S. Department of Homeland Security policy adopted July 8 wrongly orders immigration authorities to keep him detained, and that the law says he can be released.
The case is ongoing: Robert Hagen, Denver Field Office Director for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, has until Friday to respond to Gelashvili’s claim.
The Sweetwater County Sheriff’s Office was originally listed as a party that needed to respond to the petition as well, but since Gelashvili is no longer in Sweetwater County custody, sheriff’s spokesman Jason Mower told Cowboy State Daily on Tuesday that the local agency isn’t the right party to respond to this custody challenge.
The Denver ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations office did not respond by publication to a Friday request for comment.
The Saga
Gelashvili entered the United States without inspection at the southern border, says a redacted copy of his petition, obtained by Cowboy State Daily.
The date of his entry is redacted.
Government officials apprehended him after he entered, and he was then ordered to be released on his own recognizance – a less rigorous bond arrangement for people who are deemed not to be a danger to the community, the petition says.
He was told to appear in immigration court for removal proceedings for entering without inspection, but he soon filed some motion with the immigration court, whose nature is redacted from the petition.
He’s eligible for work authorization, the petition says.
“As a noncriminal outside of any DHS priorities for removal, his next scheduled Master Calendar Hearing before (an immigration judge) was scheduled for… 2028,” the document adds.
The Truck Stop
On about Feb. 1, Gelashvili was driving as a commercial truck driver through Wyoming, when he stopped at the Love’s Travel Stop off Interstate 80, Green River.
He took a shower, returned to his truck and noticed a broken mirror, says the petition.
The document says Gelashvili asked an employee at the truck stop to review camera footage.
The employee said sheriff’s personnel needed to check the footage and called the sheriff, the petition says.
The document says “the Sheriff” arrived, though it’s unclear if this means Sheriff John Grossnickle or a deputy. The person from the sheriff’s office checked Gelashvili’s “legally issued commercial driver’s license from the state of New Jersey,” the document continues.
The law enforcement officer said the license was invalid in Wyoming, detained Gelashvili, and called ICE to start an immigration hold, reportedly.
“It is unclear at this point,” the petition says, “where Petitioner’s truck is located at and if a criminal investigation is open over the damaged truck mirror.”
Mower told Cowboy State Daily in a Tuesday phone interview that the mirror incident is under investigation, though leads are limited since the suspect vehicle left the scene, and Gelashvili’s dash camera was inoperable.
Wyoming's New Law
Mower said that Gelashvili presented a non-domiciled CDL issued in New Jersey and didn’t provide documentation supporting his lawful presence in the United States.
That allegedly ran afoul of a law the Wyoming Legislature passed last spring, which took effect July 1, noted Mower.
The new law in question is statute 31-7-143. It says out-of-state driver’s licenses issued to an “unauthorized alien” and which show that the licensee did not provide proof of lawful presence in the United States are invalid in Wyoming.
DHS will deny Gelashvili's release from immigration custody under its July 9 order, says Gelashvili’s petition.
The Board of Immigration Appeals on Sept. 5 issued a decision saying immigration judges don’t have authority to consider bond requests from people who entered the U.S. without admission.
The Board determined those people should be detained under a section of law contemplating detention.
Gelashvili’s petition argues that people like him, who entered without admission, are under a different section of law, 8 U.S.C. 1226(a), which says the federal government “may” release an alien on a bond or conditional parole.
“Respondents’ new legal interpretation is plainly contrary to the statutory framework and contrary to decades of agency practice,” says the document.
The attorneys noted that the 10th Circuit, a federal court district which encompasses Wyoming, has seen cases rejecting ICE’s new interpretation of the law.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
