Omahan who is U.S. citizen spends two nights in jail on immigration ‘hold,’ drawing criticism

OMAHA — Domingo Rey Valentine is a U.S. citizen who has lived nearly all his 50 years in this country since his adoption as a baby by Nebraska parents who had served in the Peace Corps in Honduras.

This week, however, the Omahan was picked up at his job of more than 20 years by Douglas County officials who told him he was wanted on a “hold” by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Valentine spent the next two nights in the county jail. On Friday, a day after his attorney sent the jail proof of his U.S. citizenship, he was released.

The Honduras-born Valentine said he kept telling himself the ICE hold had to be a mistake, but at the same time he had a worrisome thought that he could wind up in a country he hadn’t stepped in for five decades. 

He had recently been convicted for a felony third-offense DUI, and he was approved for a house arrest with allowance to go to work.

“I was like, well, maybe something about the law changed,” Valentine said, recounting his thoughts while in jail. “I’ve been here for 49 years, I don’t know anything else. If they did deport me, I don’t even speak Spanish.”

New fuel to enforcement tensions

While Valentine was let go from jail to resume a 60-day house arrest and three years probation for the non-immigration-related offense, the situation adds a different fuel to escalating tensions over ramped-up immigration enforcement in Nebraska and elsewhere.

“It never occurred to me that something like this could happen,” said his attorney Ashley Albertsen, who added that the ICE hold caused “unnecessary” distress and an interruption of Valentine’s job.

Family friend and Omaha criminal defense attorney Yvonne Sosa, who learned about Valentine’s immigration hold, said she found it scary. 

The Trump administration reportedly has demanded that ICE make 3,000 immigration-related arrests a day, and the president more recently directed ICE officers to “do all in their power to achieve the very important goal of delivering the single largest Mass Deportation Program in History.”

Said Sosa: “I am used to a system where there are checks and balances and people are required to check and double check their work. It doesn’t seem like that is happening, and it is to the detriment of citizens — so I am scared.”

Sosa reflected on the recent circumstances of a Guatemalan worker at a west Omaha Early Bird restaurant. 

In that case, an immigration official reportedly told a TV station that agents had been looking for a Guatemalan national who had a final immigration order of removal and saw someone matching his description. 

The agents followed the man, who turned out not to be the original target but allegedly resisted arrest. A video of that man being handcuffed on the ground in front of patrons was widely circulated on social media, prompting new Omaha Mayor John Ewing Jr. to say: “That’s not the way we want to do law enforcement in Omaha, Nebraska.”

The Early Bird suspect, Romeo Edilzar Yaxcal-Tiul, has been charged in a federal indictment with three counts, including use of a Social Security number not assigned to him and resisting arrest.

Reason for detainer unclear

Of the Valentine situation, Albertsen and others wondered how law enforcement information got crossed up to the point that he was handcuffed at his worksite and left to spend two nights in jail not knowing more details. 

Valentine said he asked early on to speak to an immigration enforcement official and noted on a form he was asked to fill out that he was an American citizen. 

“I never got to talk to anybody from ICE, and ICE never apologized,” he said.  

A Douglas County spokeswoman said ICE had contacted the county on Wednesday — the same day Valentine was picked up at his job —  requesting that a detainer be placed on him. 

ICE contacted Douglas County Corrections again the next evening, Thursday, requesting that the detainer be removed, the county spokeswoman said. Thursday was a federal holiday, Juneteenth. Valentine spent that night in jail.

A spokeswoman for ICE, responding to a request from the Examiner, said key people privy to information about the situation were not available Friday. It is unclear exactly why the ICE detainer was placed on Valentine. But the federal spokeswoman said it was based on “information gleaned from local law enforcement.” 

Court records, interviews

Here’s what happened leading up to that point, according to court records and interviews with Valentine and his father.

Valentine has struggled with an alcohol problem, he and his dad said. In August 2024, he was arrested for the third offense DUI. The first charge had come more than a decade ago, the more recent two came as Valentine pushed through a condition called psoriatic arthritis that Valentine said caused him pain to walk up stairs or tie his shoes. He now takes medication for the condition.

“But he loves to work,” said dad, Walt Valentine, who said his son “religiously” followed the court’s orders so that he could continue working pending his sentencing. 

In the months following the August arrest, Valentine’s attorney said he went to counseling, Alcoholics Anonymous and reported to county officials frequent breathalyzer results showing he was not drinking.

On Tuesday, June 17, following a “joint recommendation” by the prosecution and defense, Valentine was sentenced to three years of supervised probation that called for the first 60 days in jail, continued AA meetings, a seven-year revocation of a driver’s license and a fine. 

On June 18, the day after being jailed, a judge signed off on an order approving house arrest for the 60 days and released him.

Valentine had lunch with his dad and reported to work that same afternoon, until he was called to a guard’s station. Valentine said he figured it was a routine check by work release officials and was surprised when the county corrections representatives told him he was wanted on the ”ICE hold.”

He said the county-employed men who summoned him from his work seemed apologetic. 

Work flow disruption

Valentine’s dad said his wife, Linda, was more upset about what happened to their son than him. He said he figured it would get sorted out eventually and that their son, who lives with them, could not truly be an ICE target. He said he’s more troubled about friends and neighbors that have little to no recourse from deportation.

“Families are being broken up, people are skipping work and school because they are afraid,” said Walt Valentine.

At work, manager Mark Wright said Valentine’s apprehension caused a disruption, as he leads a crew of about eight in the shipping and receiving area of Skylark Meats. “He’s an important piece of our daily operations, everybody likes Domingo.”

Wright said the incident “strikes fear” in other people who are “rightfully here.”

For Domingo Valentine, he said he is looking forward to completing probation, working on his health and making up for two days of lost pay.

 “I do feel that if you have brown skin you might have to be a little more wary,” he said. “If this could happen to me, it could happen to almost anybody.”