Debate, campaign for release follow detention of chef
KINGSTON, N.Y. » The detention of a local chef by federal immigration officials has sparked a contentious debate on Facebook and a letter-writing campaign calling for his release.
Juan Carlos Alonzo Vasquez, 29 — a 10-year Kingston resident from Oaxaca, Mexico, who has been the head grill chef at The Anchor, on Broadway in Kingston, for the past two years — was picked up by officers from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) about 8:30 a.m. Wednesday, according to the restaurant’s manager, Brandy Walters.
Vasquez, known to friends as Charlie, remained in federal custody at the Orange County Jail on Friday, and ICE continued to decline to requests for information regarding his detention.
Comments on the Freeman’s Facebook page about Vasquez’s detention included discussion of whether his drunken-driving conviction seven years ago should have led federal authorities to target him now. While the conviction might have had nothing do with Vasquez’s detention, past criminal records have been associated with the detention of at least two other immigrants in Ulster County this year.
Vasquez pleaded guilty to misdemeanor drunken driving in March 2011. Since Donald Trump became president in January 2017, his administration has been enforcing an existing law that allows the deportation of legal immigrants convicted of misdemeanors.
Responding to a comment on Facebook that Vasquez should have “played by the rules,” Walters replied that her employee’s green card was “renewed in 2013 because he was legal and handled his DWI through the court.”
Walters also commented on Facebook that Vasquez was not “in hiding ... has been by the book and paying taxes.” Additionally, she wrote, “we don’t even know if the [drunken-driving conviction] is why he is being detained.”
Walters declined further comment to the Freeman by phone on Friday. She told MidHudsonNews. com, though, that Vasquez’s detention appears to have been triggered by a recent visit he made to a Social Security office.
Calls and an email to the Social Security Administration were not returned.
Walters also told MidHudson News that Vasquez has been using some of his income to support his father, who’s being treated for cancer in Tijuana.
Walters is organizing a letter-writing campaign among employees of The Anchor and friends of Vasquez and is seeking legal representation for him. Supporters also are asking for assistance from the office of U.S. Rep. John Faso, R-Kinderhook.