The family of Gerardo Reyes, a Mexican immigrant who was transferred to an ICE detention center in Texas after being arrested in u n police control when he was moving with his vehicle, demanded transparency and more severe sanctions for the agent involved in the case.

The San Marcos police announced on Wednesday May 13 the 24 hour temporary suspension of agent Jaciel Cortina, who n detained Reyes and his son Esteban on March 14, while an internal investigation into the incident is completed.

Cortina incurred three violations of the police department's regulations during the arrest of Reyes and his son, according to the preliminary report.

These include presenting inaccurate information in an affidavit, not having explained the legal basis of detention and not having conducted sufficient investigation before proceeding with arrest.

“I felt like they spit in my face…”

For Sanjuana Escalante, wife of Reyes, who has been held for more than two months in a detention center in Hutto, Texas, the sanctions that the police imposed on the agent are insufficient.

“I felt like they spat in my face, because they didn't take responsibility for the fact that they made a mistake and they have to fix it,” the woman indicated this Thursday in statements to EFE.

The Hays District Prosecutor's Office decided to dismiss the charges for “obstruction of public functions” that had been filed against her husband, although similar charges against her 17-year-old son Esteban remain in force.

However, as deputy prosecutor Greg Coxx stated in a document announcing the decision, the prosecutor's office considers that the police officer acted “within his legal authority” at the time of making the arrest.

Escalante doesn't agree with that vision. “We want the charges to be dropped as well, because the detention wasn't justified, was based on a false report (to the police) and a family was affected as a result,” Escalante added.

On March 14, Reyes accompanied his son Esteban to take some belongings to the then girlfriend. The young woman didn't come out and they returned to ca sa when an agent stopped them and asked them to get off the vehicle without explaining the reason, according to testimonies and a video that the family shared with EFE.

The family will present a request for ‘habeas corpus’

Esteban, who was driving, refused to get off and asked why they were stopping him. Reyes insisted that his son was a minor and put one arm on his chest. The police later verified that the young never left his residence.

An immigration judge dismissed this Wednesday the request to cancel the deportation order in the case of Reyes, who does not have legal immigration status in the country.

His family indicated that they will submit a request for 'habeas corpus', a legal remedy to protect individuals against arbitrary detentions, to insist on Reyes' release while his immigration case is decided.

Under the Donald Trump Government, heavy-handed immigration policies, together with the push for arrests in the country, have led to record numbers of arrests.

As of January, more than 73,000 immigrants remained in detention in the United States, the highest level since the creation of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in 2001.