Asylum case for Spokane resident proceeds following immigration hearing

TACOMA – The asylum case for 28-year-old Joswar Slater Rodriguez Torres continues following a hearing before a federal immigration judge Thursday morning.

Torres, a native of Venezuela, traveled to the country last year through an immigration program the federal government has since ended. Torres’ case has sparked protests and objections in Spokane following his detention during a regular check-in meeting with immigration officials last month.

Former Spokane City Council President Ben Stuckart, who helped assist Torres through the immigration process, led a protest at an ICE facility in Spokane in an attempt to prevent Torres from being transported from the facility north of the downtown Spokane riverbank.

Since then, Torres has been held at the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma.

The processing center, located in an industrial area of the city, has a capacity of roughly 1,600 detainees and has seen rising population levels in President Donald Trump’s efforts to ramp up the removal of undocumented citizens.

Three federal immigration judges located at the facility were each set to hear roughly a dozen cases Thursday morning, according to a docket that hung on the walls of the waiting room, with each judge proceeding over immigration hearings for approximately three to four hours.

The courtroom of Judge Theresa M. Scala, who heard Torres’ case, was largely empty, though three of Torres’ supporters watched the proceedings from the courtroom gallery. Torres’ appearance on Thursday morning lasted for roughly 15 minutes.

During the appearance, Scala found Torres was “removable as charged,” a designation that means a noncitizen is eligible to be removed from the United States.

According to previous reporting by The Spokesman-Review, Torres entered the country through humanitarian parole, a temporary authorization that allows those facing an urgent humanitarian crisis to enter the country. Soon after taking office, Trump ended the Biden-era program, a move that was later upheld by the Supreme Court following legal challenges. During Thursday’s appearance, Scala told a lawyer representing Torres that parole is “not a legal admission into the United States.”

Still, Thursday’s appearance does not end Torres’ case to remain in the country.

Torres has filed for asylum in the United States, and during the appearance, Scala set Torres’ next court date for Aug. 22. According to the American Immigration Council, asylum is granted to applicants who have a “well-founded fear of persecution if returned to their home country.”