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The court granted plaintiff’s motion to strike defen- him in English. Rodriguez, who was not proficient in
dant’s counterclaim, finding that a counterclaim is English, replied, to the best of his ability, in Spanish.
not proper in a common charge lien foreclosure ac- He was handcuffed, arrested, and charged with re-
tion. Defendant acquired title to a condominium. movability. After Rodriguez’ arrest, the ICE officers
She accepted membership into the condominium prepared a Form I-213 falsely stating they had en-
association and agreed to pay the associated com- countered Rodriguez at his residence and that he had
mon charges and assessments. She defaulted on pay- made admissions concerning his alienage. in removal
ment. Plaintiff association filed suit to foreclose on proceedings, Rodriguez moved to suppress all evi-
its statutory lien. Defendant filed a counterclaim, dence obtained from his arrest, including the Form
asserting that plaintiff was liable to her for damages I-213, arguing the ICE agents who arrested him
she sustained when the common area roof over her egregiously violated his fundamental constitutional
unit suffered damage, causing water to leak into her rights because he was seized, arrested, and detained
unit, causing extensive property damage therein, and based solely on race. The IJ denied the motion. The
resulting in her tenant’s refusal to pay rent. Plaintiff’s BIA remanded. On remand, the government with-
attempt to repair the roof using its own maintenance drew the Form I-213 as evidence and instead pre-
crew was inadequate, causing further damage. De- sented an Ecuadorian birth certificate and criminal
fendant incurred costs to repair the unit and evict history printout as evidence of alienage. The IJ re-
her tenant, and lost several months rent. Plaintiff jected Rodriguez’ argument that this evidence was
moved to strike defendant’s counterclaim, arguing it still “fruit of the poisonous tree” and again found
did not attack the making, validity, or enforcement him removable. The BIA upheld that decision. The
of the condominium charge lien. Further, counter- court granted Rodriguez’ petition for review. Sup-
claims are improper in common charge lien foreclo- pression of evidence is warranted in removal pro-
sure actions as a matter of law. The court agreed and ceedings if the record establishes an egregious con-
granted the motion to strike, explaining that if plain- stitutional violation or a violation that undermines
tiff wished to seek a remedy for her alleged injury, she the reliability of the evidence in dispute. Here, the
needed to do so in a separate action. evidence suggested that Rodriguez arrest was racially

motivated. Rodriguez thus made out a prima facie
U.S. COURT OF APPEALS case of an egregious violation of his constitutional
rights, warranting the suppression of evidence.

IMMIGRATION LAW U.S. DISTRICT COURT

Egregious Violation of Petitioner’s CIVIL PROCEDURE •
Constitutional Rights Warranted EMPLOYMENT LITIGATION
Suppression of Evidence

CASE: Rodriguez v. Barr Court Granted In Part The Plaintiff’s
COURT: U.S. Court of Appeals for Second Circuit Motion To Remand Employment Action
DOC. NO.: 15-3728
COURT OPINION BY: Sessions To State Court
DATE: November 21, 2019 • PAGES: 26
The court granted a petition for review of a ruling CASE: Pomales v. Lowe’s Home Ctrs., LLC
by the Board of Immigration Appeals, finding the COURT: U.S. District Court for Connecticut
BIA erred in denying petitioner’s motion to suppress DOC. NO.: 3:19-cv-831
evidence of his alleged alienage. Immigration and COURT OPINION BY: Arterton
Customs Enforcement agents conducted an early DATE: November 25, 2019 • PAGES: 4
morning raid on multiple homes in a largely Hispan-
Plaintiff moved to remand this case to the Connecti-
ic neighborhood. One of the people apprehended in cut Supreme Court, from which it was removed, and
the raid was Antonio Barroso. Barroso called Chris- also moved for attorneys’ fees. Plaintiff sued defen-
tian Rodriguez, telling him he needed to retrieve dant, his former employer, for violating the Family
documents from his car, which Rodriguez had bor- and Medical Leave Act and state employment stat-
rowed the day before. Rodriguez, wearing only the utes. Plaintiff now wants the case remanded back
clothes he had slept in, immediately got in the car to state court. The court granted plaintiff’s motion
and drove to Barroso’s residence. Upon arriving, he as to Count One, Wrongful Termination, which
was apprehended by ICE agents, who questioned arose under Conn. Gen. Stat. § 31-290. The parties

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