Traffic stop for broken brake light results in father in ICE custody

By Gilat Melamed

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    HENRY COUNTY, Georgia (WXIA) — A Henry County father is now in an ICE holding facility after a routine traffic stop, family members said.

Eduardo Guzman Garcia’s wife, Amanda Guzman, said her husband has been at the facility in Atlanta since Friday after he was pulled over in Henry County last week for a broken brake light.

“My toddler every night just cries because she misses her dad, and she looks around for him and she screams his name at night, and it’s just really hard,” Guzman said. “It’s hard to keep it together because I have a high risk pregnancy, but the world doesn’t stop.

She said she has to keep going for them. Amanda Guzman said her husband was driving their toddler to school on July 9 when Henry County Police stopped him at HWY 155 and East Lake Pkwy in McDonough for a broken brake light. When officers realized he didn’t have a license, she said they brought him to the county jail, which the department tells 11Alive is protocol.

“They told me repeatedly that Henry County does not work with ICE, that they would not be calling ICE,” she said.

A representative for the police department said they never contacted ICE.

The Henry County Sheriff’s Office, however, said its department was required to notify the Department of Homeland Security, saying that when booking Eduardo Guzman Garcia, the system showed DHS had a detainer on him.

“The Henry County Sheriff’s Office was legally required to notify Homeland Security before releasing Mr. Guzman due to a valid immigration detainer,” a spokesperson for the agency said.

READ: Dalton teen says she’s not holding a grudge against the officer after her mistaken traffic arrest

ICE agents showed up at the jail with a warrant for his arrest.

The Henry County Sheriff’s Office said that in any situation where there’s a detainer on someone in their custody, whether local, state, or federal, they notify the agency.

Amanda Guzman said her husband came to the U.S. from Mexico more than 20 years ago when he was around 18 years old, and since getting married, they’ve been working to get him a green card.

“We have been trying to get him through the immigration process for the past six years, so he has approval after approval, and we’ve just been waiting for his final interview,” she said.

The sheriff’s office said they don’t actively engage the public to determine legal status. Neither the Henry County Sheriff’s Office nor the Henry County Police Department have an agreement with ICE through 287(g), which allows state and local agencies to enforce certain immigration enforcement aspects.

The couple has three children and another on the way. While the past week has been difficult, Amanda Guzman hopes her story shows the impact federal immigration policies have on families.

“He’s a good man, again no criminal history, pays his taxes, has a job, has a family that wants him and has been really trying to do things the right way,” Amanda Guzman said.

Now, she’s trying to do what she can to bring him home to Stockbridge.

“He told me that while his body is in custody, his mind, his soul, and his heart are home here with us,” she said.

She said the family has received a lot of support from the community via an online fundraiser to help with legal fees.

Amanda Guzman said she hopes to get her husband out on bond, saying the family’s attorney told them he needs to be transferred to a more permanent ICE facility before he can get a bond hearing.

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