http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/13770629.htm

Posted on Thu, Feb. 02, 2006

IMMIGRATION
Foreign citizens (AKA ILLEGAL ALIENS) held as they go to court

Federal agents regularly detain foreign nationals who appear for hearings in immigration court in Miami.

BY ALFONSO CHARDYachardy@MiamiHerald.com

Federal immigration agents deployed at the immigration court in downtown Miami have begun to systematically detain foreign nationals who show up for hearings -- particularly those who are ordered deported or have criminal convictions.

Detentions at immigration court have always occurred but until recently were sporadic. Now, immigration lawyers who litigate cases say detentions are taking place every day. One lawyer, however, said detainees with no criminal records are held for hours or a few days and then released under supervision while they await deportation or the outcome of pending asylum cases.

Immigration officials this week confirmed the detentions and noted that foreign nationals in proceedings who qualify for supervised release are picked up at the court building, 333 S. Miami Ave., and then placed under a system dubbed Intensive Supervision Program. One of its features is electronic-monitoring ankle bracelets. Those who qualify for supervised release include foreign nationals who have no criminal record and are seeking asylum.

Court detentions mark yet another example of toughened enforcement of immigration laws and regulations. The goal is to ensure that foreign nationals in immigration court proceedings comply with appearances and not flee.

More than 400,000 foreign nationals ordered deported nationwide have been classified as fugitives over the years. They allegedly would go underground when an immigration judge ordered expulsion, although in some cases, court-hearing notifications were sent to the wrong address.

Detentions at the Miami court are part of a nationwide program. Court detentions stem from pilot programs begun three years ago in Hartford, Conn.

The first indication that systematic detentions were occurring at the downtown court in Miami came during a Dec. 22 meeting between local representatives of the American Immigration Lawyers Association and Michael Rozos, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Florida field office director for detention and removal operations.

Immigration attorney Mary Kramer, who attended that meeting, said the lawyers group was concerned about the detentions and had asked Rozos about the possibility of ``limiting the number of arrests at court to ensure due process of law.''

Kramer noted in an e-mail to The Miami Herald that attorneys for the lawyers group told Rozos that their organization was ``strongly opposed to arresting people in the courthouse halls at their hearings, because it is upsetting to the family members, raises security concerns, and in some cases may be neither legally required nor justified.''

Kramer said that not all foreign nationals in immigration court proceedings are detained. ''Percentagewise, the majority of individuals appearing in court are not arrested,'' she said.

Steve Forester, senior policy advocate for Haitian Women of Miami Inc., an immigrant rights group, said his sources knew of almost 50 foreign nationals picked up at the court over a two-day period in late January.

Some immigrants detained at court are taken to a site where they are placed on supervised release, immigration attorneys said. At the site, detainees are asked to identify a sponsor, watch a video on supervision requirements, and then get a monitoring bracelet placed on an ankle -- prior to release.

Barbara Gonzalez, a Miami spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, confirmed that court detentions were taking place. She said no figures on detentions were immediately available.

''We have always been present at the court,'' Gonzalez said. ``Every case is evaluated on a case-by-case basis, and among the criteria looked at is whether someone is a mandatory detention case, flight risk, and obviously a top priority is expeditiously removing criminals.''

Eduardo Soto, a Coral Gables immigration attorney, said that a Colombian was placed in detention at the court last month after a judge denied his asylum petition. Soto said the Colombian had arrived at Miami International Airport with an allegedly false passport. He was detained, then released because an asylum officer concluded that he had a credible fear of persecution if returned home.

But when the Colombian went to immigration court, the judge found that he did not qualify for asylum, and immigration officers detained him. Soto said the Colombian is still detained.

Matthew Archambeault, an immigration attorney, said that last Aug. 31, one of his clients, a Sudanese seeking protection from deportation, was detained after showing up late for a hearing, at which the judge ordered deportation.