ICE arrestee appears in court again

PORT CLINTON — American citizen Emerson Ayala, who was arrested during a joint raid by Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Ottawa County in June, appeared in court again last week on allegations that he resisted arrest. Ayala, 43, was among several workers detained from a construction site at the entrance to the Catawba Island causeway when federal agents searched several area businesses. Ayala's attorney, Alonda Bush, asserts he is an American citizen and not subject to detention by the federal immigration agents. Ayala has a government-issued ID, reviewed by the newspaper, which appears to support that. He was originally charged with assaulting a federal agent, a felony, which was downgraded to resisting arrest, a misdemeanor, by Ottawa County prosecutor James VanEerten. Ayala is slated to appear in court for another pre-trial hearing on Friday, Sept. 26. Allegations in new motion Bush filed a motion to suppress, arguing that Ayala's rights were violated in the "warrantless arrest." According to the motion, Bush believes the arrest violated both Ayala's U.S. Constitutional and Ohio state constitutional rights. Bush claims agents had no right to accost Ayala or arrest him, according to the motion. "Agent (Eric) Beard subjected Mr. Ayala to an investigatory detention absent reasonable suspicion that he had engaged, was engaging or about to engage in unlawful activity," according to the motion. The motion also contains a concerning description of the violence utilized by Beard and the other agents during the arrest. Beard "inexplicably swept Ayala's legs from under him" and led a group of agents to "tackle, knee in the back and use their body weight to hold down Ayala," according to the motion. Video evidence appears to show multiple agents on top of Ayala, striking him while he lies on the ground. Losing their livelihoods Ayala, a resident of Indianapolis, filed a motion to appear by telephone, a common motion attorneys file when their client lives out of the local area. Ottawa County Municipal Court Judge Louis Wargo III denied the request with no explanation, according to Bush. Judges are not mandated to explain their rulings, and calls to the court by the newspaper seeking explanation have not been returned. Ayala claims he drives from Indianapolis to Port Clinton for each hearing, an approximate nine-hour roundtrip drive. Ayala sat on a bench in the hallway while his attorney conferenced with the judge and prosecutor behind closed doors in a hearing that took less than 15 minutes. "I spend my time coming here, but I don't understand why I can't let my lawyer be here when I just sit on the bench outside," Ayala said. "It feels like they are pressuring me to say, 'I am guilty.'" According to Ayala, time is not the only resource he expends when forced to appear for pre-trial hearings; the financial toll is beginning to strain his family. "Every time I have to come (to the courthouse in Port Clinton), we have to close the business for two days," Ayala said. "That costs us $5,000 or $6,000 a day." The monetary outlay exceeds the daily loss of business, according to Ayala. He claims the family has lost two local Ohio contracts in Sandusky due to his arrest. "One was for $1.4 million, and the other is a $700,000 build," he said. While filming the arrest of workers on a job site, Ayala was confronted by an agent who asked, "Are you illegal?" to which Ayala replied, "I don't answer questions," according to the video recording taken by Ayala that was reviewed by the newspaper. The Border Patrol agent, later identified as Beard, then grabbed a working harness Ayala was wearing, the video shows. Ayala then told the agent to release him and when he put his own hand on the harness and attempted to pull away. Beard then told him he was under arrest for assault. Beard did not tell Ayala he was being detained before placing his hands on him, according to the video Grabbing Ayala by the chest might have aggravated a preexisting medical condition, his daughter said. "My dad has heart troubles, he has a pacemaker, and the agent really grabbed that and it hurt him," Ashley Ayala said. Ayala was taken to Border Patrol's Port Clinton Detention Center until it was discovered that he is an American citizen, after which he was taken to Ottawa County Jail and booked on the charge of assaulting a federal agent and held on $150,000 bail. Bail was later waived when the charges were downgraded, although Ayala claims he will not receive a refund of the $15,000 bail bond posted through an agent. "I don't get any of that back," he said.