MANHATTAN (CN) - Federal immigration agents have arrested a 40-year-old Jamaican asylum-seeker who fled to the United States on a tourist visa in 2021 after being nearly shot to death in his home country for being gay, according to court records.

In a habeas corpus petition filed Wednesday, Rickardo Anthony Kelly claims Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents offered him $1,000 to self-deport to the same country where he suffered "severe persecution" for his sexual orientation.

"Petitioner's persecution culminated in a violent attack on May 2021, during which he was shot 10 times - a terrifying act that prompted his flight to the United States," Kelly says in the petition.

Kelly, who works as a security guard in New York City, claims he was arrested by ICE agents on Monday before a routine immigration appointment in Lower Manhattan. His lawyers say the arrest was part of the Department of Homeland Security's broader nationwide strategy of arresting noncitizens immediately following their hearings in immigration court.

Immigrant rights groups have panned the controversial tactic as one that discourages attendance to the mandatory check-ins. In fact, federal authorities were previously directed not to make these arrests near immigration courts for that very reason.

That changed in May, when reports emerged that Trump administration officials were pressuring ICE to increase daily immigration arrests, prompting agents to start camping outside of immigration courtrooms and detaining noncitizens when their cases get dismissed.

But Kelly claims he didn't even get that far. His asylum attorney Peter Schuur says in a declaration that he arrived at the immigration court in 26 Federal Plaza with his client at 11 a.m. on Monday. After waiting for roughly an hour in the check in area, an ICE officer asked Schuur whether Kelly was subject to the Laken Riley Act, a GOP-backed legislation greenlighting the deportation of noncitizens accused of crimes like theft, burglary, larceny or assault of a police officer.

According to Kelly, he has a pending third-degree assault charge, a misdemeanor in New York State, stemming from a domestic dispute. But he claims prosecutors have stalled the case and expects it to expire under the Speedy Trial Act later this month.

Still, Schuur claims ICE officers informed them they had determined "on a discretionary basis" to detain him on the basis of his pending criminal case.

"I told the ICE officers that Mr. Kelly does not pose any risk of danger or flight," Schuur said in his declaration. "I explained that he is a hard-working man whose consistent goal since I began representing him in 2021 has been to remain in New York and be a productive member of society."

Schuur and Kelly claim that one of the ICE officers handed them a flyer offering Kelly $1,000 to self-deport to Jamaica, but Kelly declined.

"I believe that, if Mr. Kelly returns to Jamaica, he faces a grave risk of being killed or severely injured because he is gay," Schuur said in the declaration.

A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security didn't immediately respond to requests for comment. When reached via phone, Schuur declined to speak about his client's pending legal matter.

Kelly seeks a temporary restraining order to free him from immigration custody. A diabetic, he fears "severe, and quite possibly fatal" medical consequences should he be unable to access his medication from his holding cell at 26 Federal Plaza.

That facility is controversial in its own right. Other inmates have previously filed habeas petitions complaining of overcrowding and a lack of medical care at the makeshift jail, which is just two floors below the immigration courtrooms.

New York City Comptroller Brad Lander did a brief stint at the building's holding cell when he was detained after trying to escort a noncitizen from the court through a crowd of ICE agents.

Kelly's detention is one of hundreds being contested in federal court as the Trump administration ramps up its efforts to deport as many noncitizens as possible. 

Its courthouse arrests continue to be scrutinized. Last week, a group of legal organizations and the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit claiming the tactic unlawfully denies noncitizens "the right to seek relief from removal in the courtroom and summarily arrest[s] them as they exit."

Source: Courthouse News Service