Thread: Judge could halt arrests of immigrants seeking green cards

Judge could halt arrests of immigrants seeking green cards

A Boston federal judge could rule as early as Thursday whether to order the Department of Homeland Security ...

Aug. 23, 2018 10:15 AM

A Boston federal judge could rule as early as Thursday whether to order the Department of Homeland Security to stop arresting undocumented immigrants who come to government offices for interviews as part of the first steps in applying for green cards.
US District Judge Mark Wolf heard testimony Tuesday from people who had been unexpectedly detained when they sat for marriage interviews as part of the application process to prove that their marriages to US citizens were legitimate.

Emails entered as evidence in the case show what appear to be efforts between US Citizenship and Immigration Services employees and Immigration and Customs Enforcement employees to coordinate the interview appointments and arrests.

There are five couples named in the suit, each consisting of an undocumented immigrant married to a US citizen, and attorneys for the American Civil Liberties Union say there are other couples in the New England area who are facing similar situations. While the ACLU and attorneys at the firm WilmerHale have asked for the injunction to apply to the Boston ICE office's region, the impact could be felt nationwide.

"The reason that these arrests happened according to ICE itself is President Trump's (January 2017) executive order -- and that is an executive order that is nationwide," said Matt Segal, an ACLU attorney. "The issue in this case is one that is important for the entire country."

Attorneys for the plaintiffs argue that the practice of arresting immigrants with deportation orders who are attempting to apply for green cards goes against their own agency's 2013 policy of creating "provisional waivers," which were created to allow people in those situations who have US citizen family members the opportunity to become lawful permanent residents.

Wolf previously ordered the release of each of the spouses who had been detained and are named in this case. He indicated a ruling could come Thursday.

ICE officials testified that they believe the arrests were justified, citing the executive order calling for "the faithful execution of immigration laws of the United States ... against all removable aliens..."

The current acting field office director, Todd Lyons, said in court that he would prioritize people who have criminal histories for removal.

"We still are following the executive order, but I have the daunting task of doing it with the resources we have," Lyons said in testimony. "The public safety aspect far outweighs the resources that we have."

Separating families thousands of miles from the border

In the months since Lilian Calderon, 30, returned to her Rhode Island home after being unexpectedly detained for nearly a month, her two young children, Natalie, 5, and Noah, 2, have not been the same.
Natalie had nightmares of Calderon not being there, screaming for "Mommy" in the middle of the night, her mother said. Noah would latch on to Calderon's legs when she needed to do something as simple as go to the bathroom, and it would take her nearly half an hour to calm him down.

"He developed a separation anxiety that he didn't have before," Calderon said in court.

Calderon's husband, Luis Gordillo, one of the strongest men she knows, has changed, she said, developing depression and anxiety because of the uncertainty of their family's situation. They have known each other since 2002 and were married in 2016.

"It's hard for me to see this man that always takes care of us, when he breaks down because a court date is looming," Calderon said.

Calderon revealed these changes in court before Wolf, who wanted to know what "irreparable harm" she and others in her situation would face if he did not issue a preliminary injunction, stopping DHS from arresting and possibly deporting others like her.

The family's life was turned upside down in January, when Calderon and Gordillo went into a US Citizenship and Immigration Services office for a marriage interview. The interview is part of the process of filing for an I-130 application, the first step a US citizen takes to help a noncitizen relative immigrate to the US.
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alderon was brought to the US by her parents from Guatemala when she was 3 years old. She has been subject to a final order of removal since her father's asylum application was denied when she was 15.
If she is sent back to Guatemala, her husband says, she would be sent back to a country she knows nothing about.

"Natalie doesn't even speak Spanish. Our little one doesn't either. We don't have any family, we don't have any roots over there," Gordillo testified.

When asked if Calderon could go live in Guatemala while her husband and children remain in the US, both husband and wife said it is a possibility they have not wanted to think about.

"Just the four weeks that she was detained -- that was very harmful for the family," Gordillo said.

Citizenship and Immigration Services did not respond to a request for comment.
A policy change
Since February there have been five changes in field office directors at the Boston ICE office, and each has his or her own interpretation of how to handle situations like Calderon's, which is part of the reason why Wolf said he would direct a preliminary injunction, should he choose to order one, specifically to Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen.

Lyons, who was named to the post on Monday, also served in the position briefly in June. Evidence presented in court showed that arrests of undocumented immigrants who arrived at the Boston-area USCIS office for marriage interviews began in July 2017, and Lyons confirmed that these started happening at the request of USCIS.

"We continue to receive CIS referrals," Lyons said. "But each case is reviewed on a case-by-case basis."

http://www.kimt.com/content/national/491504111.html

Judge: ICE shouldn't 'remove' people applying for green cards just because they have deportation orders

A federal judge in Boston said Thursday that Immigration and Customs Enforcement shouldn't remove people who...

Aug. 24, 2018 11:23 AM

A federal judge in Boston said Thursday that Immigration and Customs Enforcement shouldn't remove people who are in the process of applying for green cards just because they have final orders of removal.

US District Judge Mark Wolf issued the ruling during a hearing in the case of New England couples -- US citizens who are married to undocumented immigrants -- who say they're being caught in a "trap" by the government to arrest immigrants. The couples argue that the "provisional waiver process," which allows undocumented immigrants to try to obtain citizenship, is being used incorrectly.

Wolf also denied the government's motion to dismiss the case.

"ICE may only remove them from the US after considering the fact that they were pursuing provisional waivers," Wolf said in court Thursday. "I am not precluding ICE from taking action."

Wolf's statement was not a preliminary injunction, which would have been a court order for ICE to stop deporting undocumented immigrants who were going through the waiver process.
It is unclear if the government would face a penalty if it doesn't abide by the ruling, and if this would apply outside the New England area.

Five New England couples are suing Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, ICE officials, President Donald Trump and Boston-area law enforcement officials after they said multiple spouses with final orders of removal were detained by ICE after sitting down for marriage interviews with their US-citizen spouses at a Boston-area US Citizenship and Immigration Services office. Such interviews are part of the application process to prove their marriages to US citizens are legitimate, enabling them to move toward legal status.

Emails entered as evidence in the case show what appear to be efforts between Citizenship and Immigration Services employees and ICE employees to coordinate the interview appointments and arrests of people appearing for interviews with final orders of deportation. USCIS said that, in general, when its officers encounter someone with outstanding warrants or removal orders, they will notify the appropriate law enforcement agency. DHS did not comment further.

American Civil Liberties Union attorney Matt Segal, who along with attorneys from the firm WilmerHale is representing the five couples named in this suit, said his interpretation of Thursday's ruling is that while it wasn't styled as a court order, "it is a ruling on the law, and our expectation -- and presumably the court's -- is that the government is going to comply with the law as it's now been interpreted by the court."

"So as of the ruling today the law from the court's perspective is that people cannot be targeted for arrest and removal unless there is consideration given to the fact that they're pursuing this provisional waiver process," Segal said Thursday.

CNN asked the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, if it plans on complying with the ruling and a spokeswoman replied: "As a matter of policy, we don't comment on pending litigation."

Court filings from the ACLU show that about 13 people have been arrested at marriage interviews in the Boston area since January. The ACLU says it is asking other New England residents to contact them if they are not citizens and believe they are being targeted for ICE arrest or removal, despite being in the process of applying to become lawful permanent residents.

The situations the couples face came to light after a Rhode Island woman, Lilian Calderon, 30, was taken into ICE custody in January when she and her husband went to a nearby USCIS office for a marriage interview so she could begin trying to become a lawful permanent resident.

Calderon is a Guatemalan immigrant who was brought to the US when she was 3 years old. She is married to a US citizen, Luis Gordillo, and the couple has two children. She alleges in the case that after her interview was complete, she was "unexpectedly detained by ICE."

Calderon had been subject to a final order of removal since the age of 15, after her father's asylum application was denied. Her Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals application was also denied in 2017 because, according to the complaint, "she had not provided sufficient evidence of her continuous presence in the United States."

Calderon was held in an ICE detention facility in Boston from January until Feb. 13, after Wolf issued an order prohibiting ICE from deporting her while her lawsuit is pending.

ICE officials testified that they believe the arrest in Calderon's case was justified, per Trump's January 2017 executive order calling for "the faithful execution of immigration laws of the United States ... against all removable aliens."
A
fter Wolf's ruling Thursday, Calderon said, through a spokeswoman, that she and her husband were "delighted" the judge has allowed the case to proceed.

"Luis and I were trying to do what the government asked of us so that our family could continue to be together," Calderon said in the statement to CNN. "This gives us hope that no other family will have to endure what we have."

Both parties are expected to file written status reports on the case to Wolf by Sept. 12.

http://www.kimt.com/content/national/491610421.html

Okay, these illegal aliens are being arrested because they are under a deportation order. I don't see the problem. The ACLU is a scourge on the rule of law and our nation!

DO NOT REWARD THEM WITH GREEN CARDS!

DEPORT THEM!

THESE JUDGES NEED TO BE REMOVED FROM THE BENCH!

THEY ALREADY BROKE THE LAW BEING HERE ILLEGALLY!