A Tunisian man is enduring “inhumane conditions” inside the Federal Building in downtown Los Angeles after U.S. immigration authorities arrested him this month, his family says.
Rami Othmane was held July 13 while driving to the grocery store. His wife, Dr. Wafaa Alrashid, said agents blocked Othmane’s car and did not identify themselves or present a warrant before detaining him.
Alrashid, chief of medical staff at Huntington Hospital in Pasadena, was on FaceTime with her husband during the incident. The couple married on March 5, 2024, and filed an I-130 petition last month to qualify their relationship status to obtain Orthmane’s green card.
Alrashid said Othmane, whose Instagram account says he is a singer and music producer, was in the country legally, adding that he suffers from chronic pain and an untreated tumor.
Since his arrest, Othmane has been kept in the Federal Building — sleeping on a cold floor with no bedding, hygiene supplies or privacy, his wife said.
“This is not just an immigration issue — this is a human rights crisis,” Alrashid said in a statement. “My husband has been subjected to 12 days of inhumane treatment in a federal building. He is not a criminal. He is a kind, peaceful man with an open immigration petition.”
Alrashid said in a post to Instagram that the conditions are not livable, adding detainees are fed at random times and are expected to share an open toilet.
On Friday, the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, an advocacy group based in Pasadena, organized a protest vigil outside the federal detention facility in downtown L.A., known as B-18, to demand Othmane’s release.
“Like all immigrants — like all human beings — he deserves to be treated with decency and respect and to receive due process of the law. It appears that these basic rights are being cruelly denied him,” the organization said in a statement Friday. “We demand an end to the lawless campaign of raids and arrests that has led to gross injustices like the imprisonment of our friend Rami, and so many others.”
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