Lawyer: U.S. citizen wrongly detained by immigration agent in Houston courtroom

David Ochoa, accused in a capital murder case, was wrongfully detained by ICE in a Houston courtroom December 15, 2017 David Ochoa, accused in a capital murder case, was wrongfully detained by ICE in a Houston courtroom December 15, 2017 Image 1 of / 33 Caption Close Lawyer: U.S. citizen wrongly detained by immigration agent in Houston courtroom 1 / 33 Back to Gallery

A Spring man, who was free on bail, was wrongfully detained in a Harris County courtroom Friday by federal immigration agents who mistook him for an undocumented gang member they were seeking, his lawyer said.

David Ochoa, 24, was handcuffed and put in leg shackles when he arrived at court, according to his lawyer, Neal Davis. He said an arrest was attempted by a team of agents from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.

"This is like the gestapo," Davis said. "Our client is a U.S. citizen. He was born here."

READ ALSO: Houston woman poses as ICE agent, receives prison sentence

ICE press officials who were contacted have not provided comment on the incident.

According Ochoa's lawyers, ICE agents said the Spring Branch man had been deported twice and was a known gang member. Ochoa maintained that he was born in Spring and graduated from Spring Woods High School in Spring Branch.

"They didn't even show me a warrant," Ochoa said. He is free on $100,000 after being accused of being an accomplice in a murder case earlier this year. He does not have any prior arrests in Harris County.

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Ochoa's lawyers said two ICE agents came to the courtroom of state District Judge Hazel Jones and took Ochoa into custody, handcuffing him and putting him the jury box. They showed his lawyers a photo that looked vaguely like Ochoa and said he would soon be charged with a felony of re-entering the U.S.

However, Davis said, they had not compared the fingerprints in the past cases to the fingerprint card in Ochoa's case.

"They had not done their homework, it was a rush to the judgment," Davis said. "If they had done their job, they would have vetted it with the fingerprint cards from the jail."

The lawyer asked to see an arrest warrant, which the agents apparently did not have. They said they were taking Ochoa to an ICE detainment center to fingerprint him. If the fingerprints, were the same, they said, he would be charged with re-entering the U.S. a felony.

Davis, who believed his client, protested to Judge Jones.

The judge asked if there was a way to check Ochoa's identity before taking him into custody and the agents produced scanners, about the size of a cell phone, and checked his fingerprints.

"They had the wrong guy," David said. "He was effectively under arrest for a crime he didn't commit and for a crime that ICE could have easily determined that he didn't commit."

Davis, and his co-counsel Jed Silverman, said Ochoa spent more than hour in handcuffs and the agents never produced a warrant.

"It's about due process. And that should be protected, of all places, in a courtroom," Davis said. "This is something you would expect from a dictatorship, not the U.S. Government."