This blog is moderated by Matthew L. Kolken, Esq., and contains regularly updated information regarding the United States immigration law, comprehensive immigration reform, and all the latest U.S. immigration news.
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Yesterday, the House Judiciary Committee had an open hearing where they debated the Strengthen and Fortify Enforcement Act (SAFE Act). The SAFE Act criminalizes the act of being undocumented, which includes visa overstays.
The legislation will also all increase Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers by 5,000 and permits State and local government to enforce federal immigration laws, as well as permitting the arrest and indefinite detention of immigrants in privately owned federal detention centers.
The National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC) has determined through a 2010 FOIA request that from 2008 to 2012 the Department of Homeland Security has maintained a practice of detaining children in adult detention facilities.
NIJC determined that from 2008-2010 children under the age of 18 were cumulatively held for a total of 36,598 days in 30 different adult detention centers. Four children were detained between
1,000 and 3,600 days, with one child being held for a decade after being detained at the age of 15.
It is believed this data has been under-reported, however, so there is no way of knowing how many undocumented children are actually being caged nationwide.
Yesterday, the ACLU and Cooley LLP filed a class-action law suit in California challenging what they characterize as "endemic abuses" stemming from Border Patrol and ICE officers employing "misinformation" and "deception" to coerce Mexican nationals to sign voluntary departure orders and forgo their right to a hearing before an immigration judge.
The lawsuit, Lopez-Venegas v. Napolitano, alleges thatas a matter of regular practice, Border Patrol agents and ICE officers pressure undocumented immigrants to sign what amounts to their own summary expulsion documents. The procedure is formally known as “voluntary departure,” but it regularly results in the involuntary waiver of core due process rights. An individual who signs for voluntary departure immediately surrenders his or her rights to a hearing before an immigration judge and is usually expelled to Mexico within a matter of hours.
The lawsuit was filed by the ACLU of California, the ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project, and Cooley LLP. It includes seven individual plaintiffs that claim that their constitutional rights violated.
Anthony Stiegler, partner at Cooley LLP, provided the following comment:
“The policy and practice of misrepresenting an individual’s legal rights to summarily deport them from this country is inconsistent with the fundamental notions of fairness and due process under our Constitution. The United States derives its core strength because we embrace these values and abide by the rule of law.”
I couldn't have said it better myself Mr. Stiegler.
