War Vet
(Photo : flickr/DVIDSHUB)

A case of racism was filed in December of 2018. The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) had been charged with an illegal act when they had incorrectly detained a war veteran named Jilmar Ramos-Gomez from the state of Michigan. 

Ramos-Gomez is a young Latino war veteran aged 27 years old who was judged guilty for the crime of trespassing a month before he was detained. He was later released from the custody of ICE through the Grand Rapid Police Department.

According to NBC News, those who had arrested and detained him due to racism should be asked to pay an amount to him as a settlement to his complaint submitted to the Michigan Department of Civil Rights.

The previous year's primary email series that discussed the case of the Latin war veteran Jilmar Ramos-Gomez had included in the subject line the word "loco". The word was referring to the veteran as out-of his mind or crazy.

According to reports, the Latin war veteran had his passport with him when he was arrested which only proves that he is a citizen of the United States of America. Details such as these had brought alerting concerns to the validity of the statements and records presented by the police department of the state. This might prove some doubts as to the presence of discrimination during the arrest and detention of veteran Jilmar Ramos-Gomez. 

According to the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center and the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan, Jilmar Ramos-Gomez was also suffering from a post-traumatic stress disorder.

In the month of April this year, the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center and the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan had already submitted a complaint regarding Ramos-Gomez's civil rights issue against those government agencies which had mistreated him such as his racial arrest and detention by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The Michigan Immigrant Rights Center and the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan had filed the complaint based on the law of the state called the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act. The state's Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act does not allow discriminatory and racial practices. 

Ramos-Gomez had served the United States of America as a Marine. He was assigned in Afghanistan and is now known to have been suffering from the post-traumatic stress disorder.

According to a statement given by ICE during the veteran's detainment, he was saying that he was a foreigner and was admitting he was staying in the country illegally.

Currently, after a full agreement of the authority in the City Commission, Grand Rapids will be obligated to give the Latino war veteran, an amount of remuneration totaling to 190,000 dollars, as settlement for his wrongful detainment. 

The Immigration and Customs Enforcement had detained the war veteran for three days in December last year before he was released. 

Police Captain Curtis VanderKooi had been disciplined with twenty hours of unpaid work/duty suspension for wrongfully acting beyond the policies set by the state after he was noticed by the federal agency regarding the arrests of the war veteran Jilmar Ramos-Gomez at a medical center.