An off-duty Michigan police captain who has already been named in two racial profiling cases contacted federal immigration authorities after seeing images on television of a Latinx man who had been arrested for setting off a fire alarm at a Grand Rapids hospital, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Michigan said. “Could you please check his status?” Captain Curt VanderKooi emailed. The man that VanderKooi was trying to turn in, however, was a U.S. citizen.

Jilmar Ramos-Gomez, a U.S.-born Marine veteran with post-traumatic stress disorder, would spend three days in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody before getting released to his family for follow-up care in a case that the ACLU says is clear racial profiling. “He sees a picture of Jilmar who is visibly, recognizably Latino,” said ACLU attorney Miriam Aukerman, “has a recognizably Latino name, and he contacts his ICE contact to say, ‘Check his status.’”

The Grand Rapids Police Department defended VanderKooi, claiming that Ramos-Gomez’s “actions met the criteria of a potential act of terrorism.” But the ACLU is calling bullshit, because another officer contacted the FBI prior to VanderKooi’s snitching to say that Ramos-Gomez wasn’t a threat, saying, "Vet, PTSD. But not a FBI issue." Additionally, Aukerman points out VanderKooi didn’t contact investigators, but rather ICE, ”the agency responsible for deportations. It shows that what he was doing was profiling based on the way Jilmar looks, and his name."

It’s not like there were a couple of signs showing Ramos-Gomez was in fact born here: “the passport wasn't the only form of identification Ramos-Gomez had on him during his ordeal. Aukerman says he also had a REAL ID-compliant driver's license on him when he was booked into the Kent County jail, and transferred to the custody of ICE in a facility managed by Calhoun County.” It at least caught the eye of a prosecutor, who emailed, “I am confused. Didn’t his property have a US Passport in it? And he was a veteran?!” A Grand Rapids officer replied, “Who knows, not sure it was a US passport. I am not sure about the vet thing.”