Thread: MA:Court hears injunction re moving immigrants out of state

Court weighs return of Michael Bianco Inc. detainees
August 02, 2007 6:00 AM

BOSTON — Lawyers for illegal immigrants arrested in the March raid at Michael Bianco Inc. have asked a federal appeals court to return them from Texas to Massachusetts and for the court to grant an injunction that would prevent immigration officials from shipping illegal immigrants out of state in the future.

Lawyers also asked the court to prevent U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement from deporting the 80 detainees from the raid still being held in two Texas jails, five months after the March 6 raid that netted 361 illegal immigrants from the South End factory.

About 40 family members of the Bianco detainees were in court Wednesday, along with their advocates from the community, the legal profession and the Catholic Church. They arrived in a large van being driven by Anibal Lucas, director of the city cultural group Organizacion Maya Kichee.

"So many people are sick about the people in jail," he said. "It's not right. They're not terrorists; they're working people. I hope (the court) brings them back; so many people want to see them again."

At the heart of the case is whether illegal immigrants detained in the raid have a legal venue to protest their treatment in custody. The immigrants have alleged they were denied due process and access to attorneys when ICE arrested them and, in less than 36 hours, sent them to Texas.

"It is impossible to raise these claims in removal proceedings," argued Harvey Kaplan, a Boston attorney, referring to the immigration court proceedings, which determine whether immigrants are to be deported. "In removal proceedings, the issue of detention is not on the table."

The government, represented by Deputy Assistant Attorney General Thomas H. Dupree Jr., argued that the only issue in the case is whether the U.S. District Court has jurisdiction over the case. Mr. Dupree argued before the court that all issues that an immigrant has with his or her detention can be addressed in immigration court, then in an immigration appeals process, and, finally, in federal appeals court.

"This case is an attempt to circumvent that procedure," Mr. Dupree told the court. If the court ruled that it had jurisdiction, he argued, "it would open the floodgates for all immigrants protesting the location of their detention."

The three-judge panel at the U.S. First Circuit Court of Appeals took the case under advisement.

The case was dismissed from U.S. District Court earlier this year when Judge Richard G. Stearns ruled the court did not have jurisdiction in the case.

Contact Aaron Nicodemus

at anicodemus@s-t.com

http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbc ... 011/TOWN10

"So many people are sick about the people in jail," he said


I agree- I am sick about them being in jail! I am sick over the fact that we have not deported them yet!

The open border supports have filed against state and local governments enforcing immigration laws and now they don't want the federal government to do it's job. These people really believe that America should be like mexico a land without laws. What has happened to our courts and politicians? It is time for us to get rid of judges who don't support laws and politicans who support citizens of other countries instead of Americans.