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A collective demand has been made against the Trump administration, calling for the ICE (the English name for the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency) to detain all undocumented immigrants in the United States while attempting to deport them.
This suggests a change from the traditional practice of allowing those who do not pose a threat to public safety or a risk of evasion to be placed in low-risk liberty while their cases are handled by the immigration court system.
The new policy was described in an electronic mail sent to all ICE employees on July 8.
The agency stated that it was using its “extraordinarily amplia” authority to change its interpretation of the applicable law.
As a result, those who have lived and worked in the United States for a long time with deep ties to the community are subject to the same law as those who were recently arrested for illegal immigration and must remain incarcerated.
According to Tricia McLaughlin, the head of the Department of National Security, ICE employees claim that the policy’s goal is to keep the United States safe by eliminating “lagunas” that allowed “millions of illegal immigrants who were not investigated” to be released to their communities.
However, the migrants’ attorneys are requesting that a federal court in California block such an incident.
“It’s a legal interpretation error,” says Matt Adams, director of the Proyecto de Derechos de los Inmigrantes del Noroeste, one of several organizations who filed the collective claim against the Trump administration. “El estatuto deja en claro que tienen derecho an una audiencia de fianza, pero ahora las agencias intentan reescribir la ley… y est n adoptando esta interpretaci n draconiana” .
“Catastr fico” is being caused by the new policy, according to immigration advocates.
The demand is made against high-ranking Trump administration officials, including the fiscal general Pam Bondi and Kristi Noem, the secretary of the Department of Security National (DHS, as it is known in English).
Additionally, it oversees the Immigration Tribunal in Adelanto, California, where administrative policies have been implemented and financial hearings are conducted in a systematic manner.
Adams calls the change in public policy “arbitrary and caprichoso” and a violation of immigrants’ right to due process. It guarantees that it is already causing “catastr ficos” and “irreparables” to thousands of foreigners and their families because it may take months for their cases to be resolved.
One of the demandants is Ana Franco Galdamez. She is a single mother who has been in the United States for more than 20 years. She is the only American citizen to provide for her two sons and recently finished a treatment for breast cancer. Since being detained after a large immigration network in Los Angeles, a significant mamograf of follow-up has been obtained in response to the request.
Other individuals in the collective demand include a 65-year-old father who provided three American citizens with severe cognitive disabilities, a father of three children who had a baby who was hospitalized recently, and a third father. According to their attorneys, none of them have criminal histories and do not pose a threat to the community or a threat to their safety.
“Se les priva de libertad, se les separa de sus familias, de sus hogares y de sus trabajos” , says Adams. “El impacto no solo recae en ellos, sino tambi n en sus hijos, que dependen tanto de ellos” .
Using a legal reasoning similar to that of the Trump administration, Adams made a similar collective demand in Tacoma, Washington, at the beginning of this year when the immigration judges in the region denied them freedom during the os.
This case involves a woman who has lived in Washington state for almost two decades and has six American citizens, including one of her seven children who has terminal cancer. A federal court recently issued a preliminary court order. There was probably an exciting outcome in that case.
“How does a magic truce work?”
When Trump’s administration announced a drastic change to its national policy in July, immigration advocates turned against him. When the routinely granted financial requests were repentantly denied in a generalized manner, many people entered the change.
“I felt completely impacted. “It would have been better if they had fully explained their interpretation of the statute,” explains Nico Thompson-Lleras, a lawyer for the Coalicin by the Human Rights of the Inmigrants, after he heard their request for a loan for a client in California shortly after the administration’s complete change of direction. “Fue casi como un truco de magia” .
Thompson-Lleras contends that Ananias Pasqual, his client, has been a secure candidate to obtain low-finance liberty in the past.
According to Thompson-Lleras, he is a man in his 40s who is the father of four American citizens who work and pay taxes, have no criminal history, and do not face any fugitive risks. To prove that, the court presented 85 pages of evidence.
“But ni siquiera llegamos al caso,” Thompson-Leras commented. “They cut us off completely. The government’s abogado presented an argument that we had never heard before, and without considering us, they denied us the money and left us as aturdidos.
Pasqual is one of the most frequently cited cases in the entire country that challenges the new policy through the use of a federal court’s resources, arguing that they were wrongfully detained and that the proper procedure was not followed. A collective demand that includes Pasqual is also a component of the collective demand.
“It’s like going to the immigration tribunals. Specifically, we’re trying all we can, which means any possible strategy,” Thompson-Lleras continues.
In contrast to criminal and civil courts, immigration judges rely on the executive branch. They have been under increasing pressure to align themselves with the restrictive immigration policies of the Trump administration.
During this administration, there has been a significant increase in the number of people arrested, detained, and deported from the United States without a valid reason.
“Politicians and activists may say “ah va el lobo” as often as they like, but that doesn’t stop this administration from keeping these criminals and lawbreakers out of the streets of the United States,” stated Portavoz McLaughlin, who did not respond to requests for comments specifically about the legal deaf.
The Congress could step in and amend the finance law and consult with legal experts, but if that doesn’t work, the demands to block the new administration’s policy will likely continue all the way to the US Supreme Court.
Former immigration judge Andrew Arthur is currently a member of the Center for Immigration Studies, which supports harsh immigration laws and their implementation in the hopes that administrative interpretation will become more common.
“El prop sito de esta ley es garantizar que esas personas se presenten ante el tribunal de inmigraci n: es m s seguro para la comunidad, para el extranjero y para los agentes, y m s econ mico” , Arthur explains. In certain extreme situations, foreigners may request conditional freedom for humanitarian reasons, which, according to Arthur, is the right of those who find themselves in the United States without proper documentation.
However, immigration attorneys claim that these requests haven’t been granted.
Many prisoners would rather give up their cases and march.
Many migrants are detained in detention centers because they are not allowed to wait while their cases are heard by courts.
Alfredo “Lelo” Ju rez Zeferino, who was detained for four months, narrates, “Es realmente horrible e insoportable simplemente quedarse all m s tiempo.” He forfeits his freedom under false pretenses and ends up in an ICE detention center in Tacoma.
It is difficult to reconcile the suit or in the center, which is described as abarrotado and ruidoso, with lights that are illuminated all night and frequent peleas. Mentioned is that the food is often poorly prepared and that occasionally the meal does not reach the end of the day.
Although Grupo Geo, a private company that runs the detention center, did not specifically address Zeferino Jurez’s concerns, they did state in an NPR statement that strong supervision is in place to ensure compliance with ICE regulations and that any issues are resolved in a reasonable manner.
A little over a week ago, Zeferino Ju rez decided that was enough. After 17 years in the United States, she was betrayed, left two American citizens, and returned to Mexico.
“It’s difficult, but I don’t have anything more I could do,” MXI told NPR.
Additionally, he believes that this is exactly what the Trump administration wants to achieve. “De verdad creo que quieren hacerlo lo m s dif cil posible para que todos se vayan” , concludes. “Lo complican a n m s para que la gente simplemente se vaya” .
This note was translated for NPR and The Texas Newsroom by Texas Public Radio with assistance from Gabriela Olivares and Yvette Benavides.
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