Youth soccer coach released from ICE detention facility, returns to Utah

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Jair Celis, a Utah youth soccer coach, was released from ICE detention in Arizona on Tuesday.
Celis, accused of being a child sex abuser, was proven innocent by multiple records confirmations.
His attorney plans to cancel deportation proceedings and pursue a libel case.

SALT LAKE CITY — A Utah immigrant who was arrested by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement right before his last green card interview has been released from ICE detention and reunited with his family.

KSL confirmed 29-year-old Jair Celis was released from ICE custody at San Luis Regional Detention Center in Arizona Tuesday afternoon. He spent nearly two weeks in the facility.

Celis' attorney, Adam Crayk, said his parents were there to greet him. His wife, Lexie Coletti Celis, was also able to see him face-to-face last night, for the first time since his arrest. She is a U.S. citizen, and the couple has a child together.

"It's just a real shame that we had to go through this because this guy didn't deserve this," Crayk said. "His track record for the last 15 years speaks of someone who is completely involved in the community, is a loving husband and a really good dad, and, I mean, Utah specializes in second chances. That's what we believe in here."

Celis is the Utah soccer coach who the Department of Homeland Security claimed was a child sex abuser on social media, then again in a strongly worded statement to KSL. KSL confirmed through numerous records checks those claims were not accurate.

Crayk told KSL NewsRadio he doesn't see the point of arresting Celis, since he has no criminal history, entered the country legally, and is married to a U.S. citizen.

Crayk said the next step is getting the deportation proceedings canceled and to set up a new interview for Celis to get his green card. That's something he hopes to have done in three to four months.

"I cannot wait to walk back in arm in arm with Lexie and Jair into United States Citizenship and Immigration Services and sit down for the green card interview," Crayk said.

Crayk predicts Celis will be a U.S. citizen within three years.

"When you're married to a citizen, they allow you to file after two years and nine months, so 90 days before the three-year anniversary of your green card," he said. "Jair speaks fluent English. He went to elementary, junior high, high school here."

Crayk said while Celis overstayed his visa, it's not a crime but rather a civil violation.

"Now everything I'm seeing is, 'Well, who cares? He shouldn't be out of custody because he's illegally here,'" Crayk said. "Of the people who will announce they did it the right way, they're lying, and they're lying because I have done thousands of these cases, and the vast majority of them are visa overstays who have married a citizen."

The attorney said Celis and his family are reeling from this experience.

"He and his wife are just still terrified of me doing anything that would cause them to be in the public scrutiny or public light," Crayk said. "And I'm like, 'No, no, no, no, no. We have to be presenting this story. This has to be known.' And they're like, 'Well, but wait, I don't want to go back in jail. I don't want to be smeared again. I don't want to be subjected to all the things that they can do to me.'"

Crayk said he shared Celis' story to cure injustice.

He said they still plan to move forward with a libel case against DHS for its social media post about Celis.

Celis, 17 when the incident at the center of the juvenile case occurred, was adjudicated for lewdness involving a child under 14, and Crayk said he was considering suing federal officials. Juvenile adjudications aren't considered criminal matters, and Crayk said the juvenile case wasn't germane to the immigration case.

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