"The Voice of the New Due Process Army" ————– Musings on Events in U.S. Immigration Court, Immigration Law, Sports, Music, Politics, and Other Random Topics by Retired United States Immigration Judge (Arlington, Virginia) and former Chairman of the Board of Immigration Appeals PAUL WICKHAM SCHMIDT and DR. ALICIA TRICHE, expert brief writer, practical scholar, emeritus Editor-in-Chief of The Green Card (FBA), and 2022 Federal Bar Association Immigration Section Lawyer of the Year. She is a/k/a “Delta Ondine,” a blues-based alt-rock singer-songwriter, who performs regularly in Memphis, where she hosts her own Blues Brunch series, and will soon be recording her first full, professional album. Stay tuned! 🎶 To see our complete professional bios, just click on the link below.
A federal judge has ordered the release of 10 people held by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in New Jersey county jails where COVID-19 has been confirmed, citing chronic medical conditions of the detainees that make them particularly vulnerable to the disease.
Those ordered freed range in age from 31 to 56 years of age and have medical conditions including diabetes, heart disease and obesity, and some with past histories that include pneumonia and smoking. Five were being held at Bergen County Jail, three at Hudson County Jail and the other two at Essex County Jail.
U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres in the Southern District of New York granted a temporary restraining order against the inmates’ continued detention while awaiting removal proceedings, writing: “Each of the jails where a Petitioner is being housed has reported confirmed cases of COVID-19. This includes two detainees and one correctional officer in the Hudson County Jail, one detainee at the Bergen County Jail, and a ‘superior officer’ at the Essex County Jail.”
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Congrats to Brooklyn Defender Services!The complete article including a copy of the complete decision in available at the link.
Immigrants Jailed by ICE Are Sick, Panicking, and Can’t Get Coronavirus Tests
“They don’t want to die in here.“
José listed off his symptoms: fever, nausea, diarrhea, difficulty breathing. The 38-year-old from Mexico, now detained in an ICE detention center in Southern California, told VICE News he worries he has COVID-19, the potentially deadly disease caused by the novel coronavirus.
But he doesn’t know. His jailers won’t test him.
Instead, José, who is from Mexico and came to the U.S. when he was 15, sleeps in a cell with seven other detained immigrants at the Adelanto detention facility in San Bernardino, Calif, which is run by the for-profit GEO Group. He wakes up in the middle of the night gasping for air, his heart beating wildly. After complaining to a judge, he was taken to the infirmary, where a doctor told him it was just a cold, he said.
“They just tell me to drink a lot of water and eat the food they give us,” said José, who has been incarcerated for five years fighting a deportation order. “There are other guys in here that are also coughing, have a fever. But we have no idea if we have the coronavirus because they won’t give us a test.”
This week, the first immigrants detained by ICE tested positive for COVID-19. It comes after weeks of warnings by public health experts and civil right lawyers that a mass outbreak in detention centers is inevitable, endangering both asylum seekers, those being detained for immigration violations, and staff. They also say an outbreak would strain an already critically low supply of respirators, leading to more deaths in the communities surrounding detention centers as well as among immigrant detainees.
Across the immigration system there appears to be little being done to prevent a spread of the coronavirus, except banning visitors. There are currently some 37,000 detained immigrants in ICE custody, most of them held in for-profit detention centers in the south and California. ICE recently requested 45,000 N95 masks from the federal government for its officers to carry out detentions of undocumented immigrants.
VICE News spoke with six men currently being held in ICE detention facilities in California, and two men released this month from ICE facilities in Louisiana. They described congested living conditions with up to 110 men sleeping in a room and days-long waitlists to be seen by a medical professional.
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Read Emily’s account of how our society is treating our fellow human beings at the link.
As I just quoted in a previous post:
“A country is not only what it does…it is also what it tolerates.”
Miriam Jordan, National Immigration Reporter, NY Times
By Miriam Jordan
March 29, 2020
Updated 4:02 a.m. ET
LOS ANGELES — Concerned that thousands of migrant children in federal detention facilities could be in danger of contracting the coronavirus, a federal judge in Los Angeles late on Saturday ordered the government to “make continuous efforts” to release them from custody.
The order from Judge Dolly M. Gee of the United States District Court came after plaintiffs in a long-running case over the detention of migrant children cited reports that four children being held at a federally licensed shelter in New York had tested positive for the virus.
“The threat of irreparable injury to their health and safety is palpable,” the plaintiffs’ lawyers said in their petition, which called for migrant children across the country to be released to outside sponsors within seven days, unless they represent a flight risk.
There are currently about 3,600 children in shelters around the United States operated under license by the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement, and about 3,300 more at three detention facilities for migrant children held in custody with their parents, operated by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.
Advocates for immigrants have tried for decades to limit the government’s ability to detain children apprehended after crossing the border, arguing that it is psychologically harmful, violates their rights and undermines their long-term health.
Now, some say, the coronavirus represents an even more immediate threat.
In addition to the four children who tested positive in New York, at least one child is in quarantine and awaiting results of a test for the virus at a detention facility operated by ICE, according to documents filed with the court.
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Read the rest of Miriam’s report at the above link.
Wow! Dateline 4:02 AM! Miriam is always on the job to make sure we get the latest news! Thanks to her and many other dedicated journalists for shedding some light on the way our regime treats the most vulnerable among us in the time of need!
Pretty shabby that judges under prodding from dedicated members of the New Due Process Army have to order the kakistocracy to “do the right thing.”
Some states and localities are actually doing the right (and smart) things on their own initiative. But, that wouldn’t be DHS orEOIR under the Trump regime.
Hon. Susan G. Roy Law Office of Susan G. Roy, LLC Princeton Junction, NJ Member, Round Table of Former Immigration Judges
NDPA stalwart and Round Table MemberHon. Sue Roy sends this:
March 26, 2020
VIA EMAIL ONLY Hon. Phil Murphy Governor
State of New Jersey Office of the Governor P.O. Box 001
Trenton, NJ 08625
Dear Governor Murphy,
Re: The Closure of the Newark and Elizabeth Immigration Courts
NEW JERSEY STATE BAR ASSOCIATION
EVELYN PADIN, PRESIDENT Law Office of Evelyn Padin 286 First Street
Jersey City, NJ 07302 201-963-8822 • FAX: 201-963-8874 evelyn@lawjcnj.com
The New Jersey State Bar Association (NJSBA) is requesting that the Newark and Elizabeth Immigration Courts be closed immediately, in the interest of the health and safety of the residents of NJ and the country. In support of this request, the NJSBA asks you to consider the following:
NEWARK IMMIGRATION COURT:
On March 6, 2020, the Newark Immigration Court, located on the 12th floor of the Rodino Building, 970 Broad Street, Newark, NJ, was temporarily closed for the afternoon because an attorney who had been exposed to COVID-19 and who was experiencing symptoms was present in court.
On March 9, 2020, the Newark Immigration Court reopened, and remained open until March 18, 2020. During that period of time, literally thousands of respondents and their family members were required to appear at master calendar and individual hearings, along with their attorneys, attorneys from the Office of Chief Counsel, Court staff, interpreters, security guards and Immigration Judges.
It was later learned that a second private attorney and an interpreter have tested positive for COVID-19 after being in court on March 11, 2020. The attorney is quite ill. Approximately 70 other cases were heard that morning before the same Immigration Judge, who is currently under self-quarantine. That is only a fraction of the people who were present at court that day. Because of the volume of individuals who must appear at the Newark Immigration Court on any given day, the majority of individuals must wait together, sometimes for hours, in an extremely small waiting room, in which all attorneys, courts staff, interpreters, security guards and judges must also pass.
New Jersey Law Center • One Constitution Square • New Brunswick, NJ 0 8901-1520
It was also learned that an attorney from the DHS Office of Chief Counsel, who was present in Court on March 13, has not only tested positive for COVID-19 but is currently in a medically induced coma in ICU fighting for his life. The entire staff of the Office of Chief Counsel, which is primarily located on the 13th Floor of the Rodino Building, has been placed under required quarantine for a period of two weeks.
As a result of this, the US Department of Justice, Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) issued a directive on Twitter and Facebook stating that the Newark Immigration Court would be closed from March 18-April 10, 2020, and that all court filings would be considered timely filed on April 10, when the court reopened.
Last night, March 25, at 9:30 pm, EOIR announced via Twitter and Facebook that Newark Immigration Court would reopen starting TODAY, March 26. No further information was given to the public, or, notably, the Immigration Judges or the court staff. It has been clarified that the Newark Court has reopened for court filings only, because EOIR has now stated that any filings due during the previous days of closure would now be due on March 30, 2020.
Some members of the court staff are now required to be present to accept in-person filings at the court window, as well as to handle filings that have been mailed to the court. The Office of Chief Counsel remains closed under quarantine, and therefore cannot accept filings.
The reopening of the Newark Immigration Court, even for a limited purpose, is in clear violation of Executive Order 107. The functions of the Court at this time are non-essential, because the Court does not handle detained cases. Moreover, the reopening is putting Court staff in jeopardy of not only exposure to the virus themselves, but also of spreading it to others. The City of Newark is under a shelter-in-place restriction, and, this morning, the U.S District Court for the District of New Jersey just issued an order closing the Martin Luther King and Frank R. Lautenberg courthouses because several employees have confirmed positive COVID-19 tests. The courts are closed immediately and will remain closed through April 6, 2020.
It should be noted that the courthouses are located next door to the Rodino building, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office is in the Rodino Building. Staff, attorneys, and members of the public use the same parking facilities, elevators, and even cafeterias located in the buildings.
Therefore, for all of the above reasons, the Newark Immigration Court should be closed immediately and remain closed until its scheduled reopening date of April 10, at the earliest.
ELIZABETH IMMIGRATION COURT:
The Elizabeth Immigration Court is located at 625 Evans Street, Elizabeth, NJ, and is located in the same building as, and in close proximity to, ICE detainees. The Elizabeth Court handles detained cases and is currently open.
On March 13, 2020, a medical staff person who works in the detention center was presumed to have been exposed to COVID-19; this diagnosis was later confirmed. Moreover, because attorneys for the Office of Chief Counsel travel back and forth between the Elizabeth Immigration Court and the Detention Center, where there is an auxiliary OCC office, and the Rodino Building in Newark, the OCC in Elizabeth has been included in the mandatory, two-week quarantine. Numerous private and pro bono
attorneys also routinely appear in both courts, as do interpreters and ICE personnel.
One of the Elizabeth Immigration Judges has been out on leave; an Immigration Judge from Newark, whose husband had been quarantined but tested negative for the virus, is now handling the docket in Elizabeth.
Immigration attorneys are allowed to appear telephonically if they choose; court staff, judges, security guards, interpreters, and, of course, the detainees housed in Elizabeth are there in person. The Office of Chief Counsel is still under quarantine; their attorneys have been appearing telephonically.
On March 24, 2020, at 2:30 pm, EOIR announced, via Twitter and Facebook, that the Elizabeth Immigration Court was closing for the rest of the afternoon because they had received confirmation of “the presence of an individual with a test-confirmed Coronavirus diagnosis.”
The Elizabeth Immigration Court reopened the next day and remains open.
The Elizabeth Immigration Court hears cases for individuals who are housed at Elizabeth Detention Center, as well as at Essex and Hudson County Jails. The individuals housed at those jails are usually seen via tele video. However, a detainee and a senior staff person at Essex County Jail both have positive COVID-19 diagnoses and are experiencing serious symptoms. And ICE detainees at all three locations are engaging in hunger strikes because they are afraid of contracting the virus as well.
Moreover, on March 25, EOIR issued a requirement that all attorneys dealing with inmates in ICE detention centers and courts MUST bring their own personal protective equipment (PPE) in order to be allowed to enter the facilities. Therefore, either attorneys cannot adequately represent their clients, or they must obtain PPE at the expense of health care providers and first responders who desperately need this equipment.
The NJSBA recognizes that it is more difficult to close a court that handles detained cases, as that imposes a reduction of the individuals’ constitutional rights. However, the NJSBA believes that a short- term closure of two weeks, in order to ensure that anyone who has been exposed to COVID-19 does not spread the virus, even unwittingly, is extremely important to protect the health and safety of the individuals who are housed there, who work there, and who must report there, as well as the public at large.
The NJSBA would, at the same time, ask that the State confer with ICE regarding the release of any non-criminal or low-risk immigration detainees. This would further aid in slowing the spread of the virus, as well as protecting the individuals who work at the Elizabeth Immigration Court and Detention Center and would minimize significantly the numbers of detained cases on the court docket. Should ICE forbear from placing new detainees in custody within NJ facilities would also stem the spread of the virus to vulnerable inmate populations. Alternatives to detention, such as ankle-bracelets, or mandatory video or telephonic check-ins would help ensure that ICE’s mission is not curtailed.
It should be noted that the National Association of Immigration Judges (NAIJ), the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) and the American Federation of Government Employees #511 (AFGE/ICE Professionals Union) issued a joint statement on March 22, 2020, asking for the nationwide closure of all immigration courts across the country.
Immigration attorneys, immigration courts staff, and immigration prosecutors are literally having to
make life and death decisions every day because of EOIR’s callous disregard for the health and safety of its employees, immigrants, anyone who must come into contact with the courts, and the
public. Accordingly, NJSBA is asking you to close the NJ immigration courts immediately to preserve the health and safety of the residents of NJ.
Respectfully submitted,
Evelyn Padin, Esq. President
cc: Senator Robert Menendez Senator Cory Booker
Matthew Platkin, Esq., Counsel to the Governor
Susan Roy, Esq., Chair, NJSBA Immigration Law Section Angela C. Scheck, Executive Director
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Thanks, Sue, for all you do!
To be honest, I’m not sure that a State Governor has authority to close down a Federal Office, even in times of emergency. But, this absurd, yet deadly, situation shows the arrogant disrespect for human life, common sense, and basic decency of Barr and his EOIR toadies.
Normally, you would expect cooperation, coordination, and support from the Feds in time of a health emergency. In the age of Trump and his kakistocracy, not so much. After all, you’re dealing with a regime headed by a maliciously incompetent dude who couldn’t wait to start undermining the best advice of his own doctors and nearly all health care professionals in the U.S. Bad things happen to a country that empowers a kakistocracy!
On March 23, a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued a sua sponte order in a case pending before it, ordering the Petitioner’s immediate release from detention “in light of the rapidly escalating health crisis, which public health authorities predict will especially impact immigration detention centers.” In taking such action, the court used its authority to protect those under its jurisdiction.This is what judges and courts are supposed to do.
In contrast, the leadership of EOIR, the agency which oversees our nation’s immigration courts, sees its mission quite differently. With shocking indifference to those subject to its authority, including its own employees as well as members of the public, EOIR’s present leadership seeks only to please its Department of Justice masters, much like a dog rolling over or playing dead to earn a pat on the head from its owner.
As we all began to comprehend the seriousness of the coronavirus pandemic weeks ago, EOIR refused to close immigration courts out of fear of sending a message contrary to Trump’s statements that the health crisis was a “hoax.” Christopher Santoro, the coward holding the title of Acting Chief Immigration Judge, ordered court staff to remove CDC-issued advisories on ways to help stop the spread (i.e. by not shaking hands) on the grounds that the immigration judges lacked the authority to hang such notices in their own courtrooms. In defense of his stupidity, Santoro offered the age-old excuse of the weak: that he was only following orders.
As the virus spread, and people began dying, EOIR kept its courts open far longer than it should have. An ICE attorney who represented the government throughout a crowded Master Calendar hearing in Newark, NJ on March 13 is presently in a coma in intensive care with COVID-19 fighting for his life. I’ve heard that an immigration judge in one of NYC’s immigration courts is presently ill with COVID-19 and pneumonia.There have been additional reports of others at immigration detention centers testing positive.
As cities locked down and sheltered in place, EOIR finally agreed to postpone non-detained hearings, but only until April 10. Hearings in detained courts continue to go forward.And for some reason, non-detained courts that were closed and should have remained so were reopened for the filing of documents only, with such openings announced by nighttime tweets. On Wednesday night, EOIR tweeted that several courts would “open” the next morning, without explaining whether that meant hearings that had previously been announced as postponed would instead go forward the following morning.As this occurred after business hours, there was no one to call for clarification. In fact, the opening was only to file documents.EOIR’s leadership (for want of a better term) has decided that all court filings due during the court closings are now due on March 30.Many lawyers in NYC have no way to meet this deadline, as their office buildings have been locked in compliance with the state’s shutdown order.
In order to accept these filings, EOIR is forcing court clerical staff to leave the safety of their homes, disobey the state PAUSE directive and expose themselves and their family members to possible infection in order to report to work. In NYC, traveling to work for most employees requires riding trains and buses, further increasing the risk of exposure.As schools are closed, how those court staff with child care needs will manage in a time requiring social isolation is unknown.
Furthermore, not all judges hearing detained cases are granting continuances despite the crisis. EOIR has not informed judges that the present crisis exempts them from meeting their performance metrics, which requires all judges to complete 700 cases per year, and to finish 95 percent of cases on the day of their first-scheduled individual hearing. Newly hired judges, who are on probation for two years, are therefore being forced to choose between their own job security and the health and welfare of all those who appear in their courts.
In recent days, EOIR has been besieged with letters from health care professionals, law professors, and various legal and advocacy organizations containing strong arguments to do what the Ninth Circuit had done instinctively and without having to be asked. In one of these letters, attorney George Terezakis, writing on behalf of the New York-based Association of Deportation Defense Attorneys (on whose Board of Directors I sit), described how the mother of a detained respondent who traveled from her home in Long Island to the court in Lower Manhattan by commuter train and subway to file a document for her son’s hearing was later diagnosed with the coronavirus. Terezakis continued: “Just as someone firing randomly into a crowd of Immigration Judges, court staff, attorneys, interpreters and detainees’ family members will foreseeably and inevitably kill someone…keeping the courts open ensures continued, needless infection, serious illness and death…”The letter continued: “This is a real crisis requiring real leadership to take decisive action that will place the safety of those under its jurisdiction ahead of other concerns. There is no escaping the inevitable consequences of inaction.”
As for Santoro, “I was only following orders” has historically fared poorly as a defense. Someone whose name is preceded by the title “Chief Immigration Judge” is required to stand up and take appropriate action in a time of crisis, and accept the consequences of such action. And for those in EOIR’s leadership chain who refuse to do so, it is incumbent on all of us to do everything in our power to ensure that they will be held fully accountable for their inaction under the next administration.
Copyright 2020 by Jeffrey S. Chase. All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission.
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Jason Dzubow The AsylumistHon. Susan G. Roy Law Office of Susan G. Roy, LLC Princeton Junction, NJ Member, Round Table of Former Immigration Judges
The coronavirus is causing unprecedented disruptions to nearly every area of life, and the Immigration Courts are no exception. The courts were already in a post-apocalyptic era, with over one million cases in the backlog, and now the situation has been thrown into near total chaos. The fundamental problem is that EOIR–the Executive Office for Immigration Review, the office that oversees Immigration Courts and the Board of Immigration Appeals–is determined to continue adjudicating cases, even if that means risking the lives of its own employees; not to mention the lives of respondents, witnesses, and lawyers (and anyone who comes into contact with them).
EOIR is closing and re-opening various courts seemingly at random, often times with an after-hours Tweet, such as one last night at 9:23 PM, declaring that the Newark and Seattle Immigration Courts will reopen today for purposes of accepting filings and litigating detained cases (non-detained cases through April 10, 2020 have been postponed). In reaction to this latest news, Susan G. Roy, an attorney and former Immigration Judge (and my friend from law school – Hi Sue!) wrote last night–
NJ has the second highest number of corona virus cases in the nation, second only to NY. The Newark Immigration Court was closed because someone tested positive for the virus. Now a DHS attorney is fighting for his life in ICU, another attorney is very ill, and an interpreter has tested positive. These are the ones we know about. The Court was set to reopen on April 12. That is a reasonable time to ensure that everyone is safe and that the risk of transmission is limited. How is it even remotely reasonable to decide to open TOMORROW? Even if it is only for filings, court staff and others will be forced to violate the Governor’s Executive Order [directing all residents to stay at home], put themselves at great risk, and risk contaminating others, while many people who work in the same building remain under mandatory quarantine. You are ruthlessly jeopardizing the lives of your own employees, not to mention the public, for no legitimate reason.
And it’s not just advocates who are upset about EOIR’s decision-making. The National Association of Immigration Judges (“NAIJ” – the judges’ union) and ICE attorneys are also reacting with anger. In response to EOIR’s tweet reopening the courts in Seattle and Newark, NAIJ responds, “Putting our lives at risk, one Tweet at a time.” And Fanny Behar-Ostrow, an ICE prosecutor and president of AFGE Local 511, says of EOIR: “It’s like insanity has taken over the agency,“
One of our members recently had a detained master calendar hearing scheduled for this past Friday, March 20, at the Varick St. Court. In order to prepare the bond application and for the master, the attorney and his staff met with the client‘s mother. A request for a bond hearing, together with the required relief applications, and a request for a telephonic hearing, were hand delivered to the Court at noon on Wednesday March 18th, 2020. The attorney did not receive any response to the motion for a telephonic hearing, and repeated calls to the court that day and the next went unanswered. To ensure that the Court was aware of the request, the client‘s mother retrieved from the attorney‘s office, Thursday evening, a letter to the court confirming the request for a telephonic hearing. She traveled to the court in Manhattan, from Long Island, and delivered the letter to the Clerk, and thereafter waited in the waiting area with family members of other detainees and other attorneys who were compelled to appear.
Today we received confirmation the client‘s mother has been diagnosed with COVID–19 virus, through medical testing. Can you imagine the number of people she came into contact with as the result of the decision to keep this court open? In addition to exposing the attorney and office staff, she traveled from her home on Long Island, on the Long Island Railroad, to Penn Station, from there to the subway and ultimately to the Court. Undoubtedly she came into contact with, and exposed, countless numbers of people, who in turn exposed countless others.
Anyone with a basic grasp of the fundamental principles of epidemiology – easily garnered from watching CNN or the local evening news – understands how easily this virus spreads. Given this, the decision to continue to keep the courts open can only be construed as a conscious decision on the part of EOIR to subject our Immigration Judges, court staff, interpreters, DHS attorneys, institutional defenders, members of the private bar, our clients, their families, and all whom they come into contact with, to an unreasonable risk of infection, serious illness and death.
NAIJ echoes this sentiment: “With [New York] the epicenter of the virus, DOJ is failing to protect its employees and the public we serve.”
The appropriate path forward is painfully obvious. EOIR should immediately close all courts for all cases. Staff should work remotely when possible to re-set dates and adjudicate bond decisions (so non-criminal aliens who do not pose a danger to the community can be released from detention). That is the best way to protect everyone involved with the Immigration Court system and the public at large.
Finally, I think it is important to name names. The Director of EOIR is James McHenry. I have never been a fan. Mr. McHenry was profoundly unqualified for his job, having gone from supervising maybe half a dozen people in a prior position to overseeing thousands at EOIR. However, he was politically aligned with the goals of the Trump Administration and he got the job. I have previously described the functioning of the agency during Mr. McHenry’s tenure as maliciousness tempered by incompetence. But these days, it is more like maliciousness exacerbated by incompetence. And in the current crisis, incompetence can be deadly. It’s time for Mr. McHenry and EOIR to do the right thing: Close the courts now.
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Thanks, Jeffrey, Jason, and Sue, my friends, for “telling it like it is!” Now is not the time for “go along to get along” bureaucratic responses.
Unfortunately, attorneys and court staff might now start paying with their lives for EOIR’s inexcusable two-decade failure to implement a functional e-filing system.
As one of my Round Table colleagues said, “Since when is a late night tweet ‘official notice?’” Don’t remember anything about “notice by tweet” in 8 CFR!
As I noted previously, J.R. and his tone-deaf, complicit Supremes effectively repealed the “Bivensdoctrine,” holding Federal officials responsible for “Constitutional torts” committed outside the scope of their official duties. They thereby essentially gave rogue Federal officials a “license to kill,” at least where the victim was merely an unarmed Mexican teenager. It appears that Barr, McHenry, and others in the “chain of command” are trying out their new “licenses.” They had better hope that J.R. & Co’s “willful blindness” andunwillingness to stand up for lives and Constitutional rights extend even when American citizen lawyers and court clerks are among the casualties.
Not surprisingly, EOIR’s contempt for due process and the lives of asylum seekers, families, children, and other migrants has expanded to include the lives of their own employees and members of the public forced to deal with this godawful, unconstitutional mess.
When the reckoning comes, we should not forget the negligent complicity of Congress as well as the Article III Courts for allowing the life-threatening, dysfunctional, unconstitutional mess that EOIR has become continue to operate and to threaten the health, safety, and welfare of all Americans.
Dan Kowalski Online Editor of the LexisNexis Immigration Law Community (ILC)Hon. Jeffrey S. Chase Jeffrey S. Chase Blog Coordinator & Chief Spokesperson, Round Table of Retired Immigration JudgesKnightess of the Round TableHon. A. Ashley Tabaddor President, National Association of Immigration Judges (“NAIJ”)Laura Lynch Senior Policy Counsel AILAFanny Behar-Ostrow ESQ Assistant Chief Counsel, DHS President AFGE Local 511
From Dan Kowalski over @ LexisNexis Immigration Community:
More than 70 Organizations Call on DOJ to Immediately Close All Immigration Courts During the COVID-19 Pandemic
AILA Doc. No. 20032630 | Dated March 26, 2020 | File Size: 596 K
On March 26, 2020, more than 70 organizations joined AILA, the National Association of Immigration Judges (NAIJ), and the ICE Professionals Union, to call on the Department of Justice to immediately close all immigration courts during the COVID-19 pandemic.
RE: THE DOJ MUST IMMEDIATELY CLOSE ALL IMMIGRATION COURTS DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC
Dear Attorney General Barr and Director McHenry,
Following previous calls by the National Association of Immigration Judges (NAIJ), the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) Local 511 (ICE Professionals Union), and the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) for the temporary closure of all immigration courts, we, the undersigned international, national, state, and local immigration, civil rights, faith- based, government accountability, and labor organizations urge the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to immediately close all 68 Immigration Courts operated by the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) in adherence with current public health protocols regarding the COVID-19 virus.
On the evening of March 17, EOIR postponed all non-detained hearings and recently postponed all of the Migrant Protection Protocol hearings (MPP) scheduled through April 22, 2020. However, more aggressive action is needed. While these policies are a step in the right direction, they fall far short of the required action called for by this pandemic emergency. The detained courts must also be closed to in-person hearings in order to minimize the spread of the virus, slow the rate of new infections, and to avoid overwhelming local resources.
Given the particular vulnerability of respondents in detained settings, the use of telework, which has been advocated by the Administration, can and should be quickly put in place. Immigration Judges stand ready and able to work to ensure priority matters, including detained bond matters, are addressed using technological tools. DOJ should permit all detained respondents to immediately receive telephonic bond redetermination hearings with teleworking judges and allow supporting documents to be faxed and emailed to a designated point of contact. When possible, ICE OPLA should stipulate to bond in written motions so it is not necessary to hold hearings.
The urgency for immediate, decisive action in this matter cannot be overstated. Every link in the chain that brings individuals to the court – from the use of public transportation, to security lines, crowded elevators, cramped cubicle spaces of court staff, packed waiting room facilities in the courthouses, and inadequate sanitizing resources at the courts – place lives at risk.
AILA Doc. No. 20032630. (Posted 3/26/20)
Every state and the District of Columbia have declared a state of emergency giving government leaders the opportunity to implement bold and unprecedented measures to slow and eventually
eliminate the spread of the virus. Some officials are releasing prisoners, allowing them to shelter in place at home. Cities, county, and state governments have moved swiftly to implement stay at home orders to ensure the protection of community members from this highly communicable virus. These measures include the scaling back of mass transit conveyances to most urban centers where the immigration courts are located, creating significant logistical problems for anyone needing to access the courts. On March 21, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced that it
will now require all legal visitors to provide and wear personal protective equipment (PPE) (disposable vinyl gloves, N-95 or surgical masks, and eye protection) in order to enter any
detention facility, despite the nationwide shortage of PPE.
Yet EOIR continues to operate courts in a business-as-usual manner, placing court personnel,
litigants, and all community members in harm’s way. To make matters worse, DOJ and EOIR decision-making has been opaque, with inadequate information being released, causing confusion
and leading to litigants showing up at hearings that are cancelled without notice.
DOJ’s current response to the COVID-19 pandemic and its spread is frighteningly disconnected from the realities of our communities, and the advice of local leaders and scientific experts. DOJ must immediately implement the temporary closure all immigration courts. Failing to take this action now will exacerbate a once-in-a-century public health crisis and lead to a greater loss
of life.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Laura Lynch, Senior Policy Counsel, AILA (llynch@aila.org), Judge Ashley Tabaddor, President, NAIJ (ashleytabaddor@gmail.com), or Fanny Behar-Ostrow, President, AFGE Local 511 (fbehar1@gmail.com).
Sincerely,
Fanny Behar-Ostrow ESQ Assistant Chief Counsel, DHS President AFGE Local 511
Advocates for Basic Legal Equality, Inc.
America’s Voice
American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) Local 511 American Immigration Council
American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA)
Americans for Immigrant Justice, Inc.
Amnesty International USA
Arizona Coalition to End Sexual and Domestic Violence
Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance, AFL-CIO
Asian Pacific Institute on Gender-Based Violence
ASISTA
Association of Deportation Defense Attorneys, Inc.
Ayuda
Capital Area Immigrants’ Rights (CAIR) Coalition
Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc.
Center for Gender & Refugee Studies
AILA Doc. No. 20032630. (Posted 3/26/20)
Center for Victims of Torture
Central American Resource Center
Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA)
Congregation of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd, U.S. Provinces End Domestic Abuse Wisconsin
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
Federal Bar Association Immigration Law Section
*Disclaimer, this is the position of the Immigration Law Section and not the Federal Bar Association as a
whole.
Freedom Network USA
Government Accountability Project
Her Justice
HIAS
Human Rights First
Human Rights Initiative of North Texas
Illinois Coalition Against Domestic Violence
Immigrant Families Together
Immigration Equality
International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers International Rescue Committee
InterReligious Task Force on Central America
Just Neighbors
Justice for Our Neighbors-Michigan
Las America’s Immigrant Advocacy Center
Latin America Working Group
Leadership Conference of Women Religious
League of United Latin American Citizens
Legal Aid Justice Center
Montana Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence National Advocacy Center of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd National Association of Immigration Judges
National Council of Jewish Women
National Justice for Our Neighbors
National Latina Institute for Reproductive Justice
Nebraska Coalition to End Sexual and Domestic Violence Neighbors Immigration Clinic
NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice
New York Immigration Coalition
New York Justice for Our Neighbors
Northern Illinois Justice for Our Neighbors
Ohio Immigrant Alliance
Pax Christi USA
Restoration Immigration Legal Aid
Rian Immigrant Center
Round Table of Former Immigration Judges
Santa Fe Dreamers Project
Sisters of Mercy of the Americas Justice Team
AILA Doc. No. 20032630. (Posted 3/26/20)
South Texas Human Rights Center
Tennessee Justice for Our Neighbors
The Florence Immigrant & Refugee Rights Project
The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights
Ujima Inc: The National Center on Violence Against Women in the Black Community Vermont Network Against Domestic and Sexual Violence
Virginia Coalition for Immigrant Rights
Virginia Coalition of Latino Organizations
Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy
Washington Office on Latin America
Washington State Coalition Against Domestic Violence
Wellspring United Church of Christ
Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights
AILA Doc. No. 20032630. (Posted 3/26/20)
*************************
Pretty disturbingly graphic example of how little EOIR & the DOJ care about the health, safety, and welfare of their own employees, let alone the public they have long ceased serving!
Also appreciate the courageous leadership of AFGE Local 511 President and DHS Assistant Chief Counsel Fanny Behar-Ostrow in joining the effort to end the regime’s reckless insanity. An “Honorary Member” of the NDPA to be sure! Folks like Fanny, Ashley, Laura, Jeff, and Dan are among America’s unsung heroes! Thanks for all you do!
Due Process Forever! Political “Courts” Endangering Public Welfare & Safety, Never!
Elizabeth Jordan Esquire Director, Immigration Detention Accountability Project (IDAP)Laura Lichter Lichter Immigration Denver, CO Past President, AILA
Hi all –
We filed an emergency motion about COVID-19 last night. It is system-wide, although filed in CD California, and includes evidence from Aurora thanks to Laura Lichter’s brave client.
“There can be a good rebound on the other side of this,” said Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell.
The coronavirus pandemic is putting unprecedented strain on the U.S. economy, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said Thursday in an exclusive interview with Savannah Guthrie on the “TODAY” show, noting, “There can be a good rebound on the other side of this.”
“We may well be in a recession,” Powell said, in a rare live interview. “But I would point to the difference between this and a normal recession. There is not anything fundamentally wrong with our economy. Quite the contrary. We are starting from a very strong position.”
“This is a unique situation,” Powell said, when asked if the economy could withstand a monthlong shutdown. “I think people need to understand this is not a typical downturn. People are being asked to close their business, to stay home from work, and to not engage in certain economic activity, and so they are pulling back. At a certain point, we will get the virus under control and confidence will return.”
The Fed said such extreme action was warranted because “the coronavirus outbreak has harmed communities and disrupted economic activity in many countries, including the United States.”
By making borrowing as cheap as possible, the central bank hopes to give companies and individuals ready access to nearly interest-free cash to invest and spend.
Download the NBC News app for full coverage and alerts about the coronavirus outbreak
“We’re trying to make a bridge from a very strong economy to another place of economic strength,” Powell said Thursday, by stepping in and replacing lending to small- and medium-sized businesses and other “places where credit is not being offered.”
The Senate approved the 880-page bill in a unanimous 96-0 vote. The measure would provide billions of dollars in credit for struggling industries, a significant boost to unemployment insurance and direct cash payments to Americans.
With regard to President Donald Trump’s hope to reopen the economy by Easter, Powell said, “We are not experts in pandemics over here. We don’t get to make that decision. We would tend to listen to the experts. Dr. [Anthony] Fauci said something like, ‘The virus is going to set the timetable,’ and that sounds right to me.”
“The sooner we get the virus under control, people will very willingly open back up their businesses and get back to work,” Powell said.
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If we can just “tune out” Trump and his negative leadership, follow the lead of our health professionals, Governors, and Mayors, and all pull together, putting human lives first, we can get through to better days. Until then, unfortunately, things are likely to get worse as America runs short of basic medical supplies, personnel, and hospital space.
Economies can and will be rebuilt. The dead can’t be brought back to life. Every life we re able to save now is valuable and will pay a dividend, whether economic, emotional, or spiritual, on the other side of the crisis. Already, we’re seeing both young and old come together to help, as medical students and retired health professionals volunteer to step into the breach.
I found Jerome Powell’s interview with Savannah Guthrie of NBC’s Today Show one of the best and most reassuring, from an economic standpoint, interview with a Federal official recently. You can watch it in its entirety at the above link.
Willie Nelson Country Music “Hall of Famer” & American Icon
“Vote ‘Em Out”
By Willie Nelson
If you don’t like who’s in there, vote ’em out
That’s what Election Day is all about
The biggest gun we’ve got
Is called “the ballot box”
So if you don’t like who’s in there, vote ’em out
Vote ’em out (vote ’em out)
Vote ’em out (vote ’em out)
And when they’re gone we’ll sing and dance and shout
Bring some new ones in
And we’ll start that show again
And if you don’t like who’s in there, vote ’em out
If it’s a bunch of clowns you voted in
Election Day is comin’ ’round again
If you don’t like it now
If it’s more than you’ll allow
If you don’t like who’s in there, vote ’em out
Conservatives gutted the social safety net. Now, in a crisis, they’re embracing it.
By Tracy Jan
March 25 at 10:00 AM ET
Throughout his term, President Trump has chipped away at the social safety net, proposing budgets that gutted housing assistance, food stamps and health insurance for the poorest Americans. When Congress rejected those cuts, the Trump administration enacted rules to make it harder to access federal benefits, such as requiring recipients to work.
Now, with businesses shuttered, workers laid off, and scores more worrying about buying groceries, being evicted and getting sick, the swelling need for federal assistance has forced even conservative lawmakers to embrace government protections in a series of sweeping stimulus bills.
Under the $2 trillion stimulus deal reached in the Senate early Wednesday, Republicans are proposing sending direct cash payments of $1,200 to individual Americans, an idea that, on the surface, echoes former Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang’s universal basic income platform. They want to bolster the unemployment insurance system after many GOP-led states spent years enacting restrictive criteria and reducing benefits.
“Anybody who is a moderate-wage worker who just experienced an economic lockdown in their state is in distress. Most people don’t have savings,” said Robert Rector, a research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank that guides much of the Trump administration’s policymaking.
[Facing eviction as millions shelter in place]
Rector, an architect of the 1996 federal welfare overhaul that instituted work requirements under President Bill Clinton, generally opposes safety net measures that do not promote work and marriage. But he would like to see more-generous benefits for individuals and cities in crisis in response to the coronavirus — for a finite period of time.
“Quite frankly, I’m willing to spend more money right now,” he said. “It’s a very different thing in an emergency.”
[[Sign up for our Coronavirus Updates newsletter to track the outbreak. All stories linked in the newsletter are free to access.]]
The $100-billion-plus Families First coronavirus response package Trump signed last week dramatically expands paid sick leave and family medical leave for tens of millions of workers, provisions aimed at blunting the economic impact of the pandemic.
The United States lags behind other developed countries when it comes to providing universal health care as well as paid leave for sick workers and those who have to care for family members.
“Here we had this ‘strong economy’ and all of a sudden the bubble has burst, and policymakers are scrambling to put into place basic protections other societies have,” said Rebecca Vallas, a senior fellow at the left-leaning Center for American Progress.
[As layoffs skyrocket, the holes in America’s safety net are becoming apparent]
*********************
Read Tracy’s full article at the link.
We recently went through a period of sustained economic growth and high employment that started under Obama and continued under Trump, until now. A wise nation might have used increased tax revenues to shore up the safety net, repair infrastructure, reduce spending on futile wars and defense overruns, invest for the future, and/or reduce deficit. Instead, the GOP frittered away the opportunity by mindless Government shutdowns and unnecessary tax cuts that lined the pockets of the already well-off while doing little to help the long term situation of the average American family. Indeed companies were encouraged to cut benefits to workers to pay out more to shareholders and to their executives, without much regard to the competence or value to the company of the latter.
Now, the embarrassing inadequacies and gaps of our safety net are being exposed every day. Even the GOP has turned, albeit somewhat reluctantly, to throwing several trillion into the breach, as long as it all doesn’t all go to those who need it most. Natural disasters have become the “new normal.” But, under Trump and his kakistocracy, America has consistently been underprepared to meet them.
That the hardest hit Americans get a substantial chunk of this emergency funding is a tribute to Pelosi, Schumer, and the Dems. Left to their own devices, Trump, Mitch, and the GOP would have basically mailed a modest check (or checks) to most Americans (other than the poorest) and funneled the rest into the pockets of their businesses buddies and state cronies with little oversight or accountability. Can you imagine the Grifter-in-Chief and his toadies being allowed to divvy up the loot, in secret, no less?
This emergency is unusual in nature. But, emergencies come and emergencies go. Presidents come and they (thankfully) go. What doesn’t go away is the need for a strong well-developed safety net that covers basic health care, unemployment, income assistance, and retirement benefits for all Americans, not just the wealthy. History has shown that’s not likely to happen as long as the GOP grifters remain in power.
We have a chance to save America and put ourselves on a better course for the future. Vote Trump and his GOP out in November. Your future and that of future generations will depend on it.
President Donald Trump’s insistence on downplaying the coronavirus risks reached dangerous levels Monday as he scoffed at medical advice and threatened to open up the economy despite skyrocketing case numbers.
At the White House’s daily coronavirus briefing, the president focused on wanting to reopen businesses very soon despite global guidance to essentially shut down societies and encourage people to stay home.
“It’s bad, and obviously the numbers are going to increase with time, and they’re going to start to decrease, and we’re going to be opening our country up for business because our country was meant to be open,” Trump said, despite the rising COVID-19 death toll.
The U.S. saw confirmed cases rise to more than 41,000 on Monday, with nearly 600 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins medical school’s coronavirus resource center. World Health Organization Director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Monday that the pandemic is actually accelerating ― stressing that it took 67 days from the first reported case to reach the first 100,000 cases, 11 days for the second 100,000 cases and just four days for the third 100,000 cases.
. . . .
**************
Yeah, that corrupt GOP vote to acquit could turn out to seal the fate of millions of Americans. With no plan, no brains, and no coherent strategy, you just have to hope you and those you love won’t be among Trump’s victims.
The markets should love chaos and death. But the problem is in Italy other places, they can’t even have funerals. So even “death stocks” might not be a good investment.
Wow! Talk about “malicious incompetence.”Trump is certainly leading the charge!
Maria Sacchetti Immigration Reporter, Washington Post
10:09 p.m.
‘Remain in Mexico’ hearings postponed
The U.S. immigration courts are postponing all “remain in Mexico” hearings scheduled through April 22 because of the novel coronavirus outbreak in the United States, a court spokeswoman said in a statement late Monday.
Asylum-seekers with a hearing date through April 22 should appear at their assigned border checkpoint on their scheduled hearing date to receive new hearing notice, the statement said.
Trump administration officials said they are not canceling the program, known officially as the Migrant Protection Protocol, and are “deeply committed to ensuring that individuals ‘have their day in court’ while also ensuring the health and safety of aliens, our frontline officers, immigration court professionals, and our citizens.”
Immigration lawyers and labor unions representing government prosecutors and immigration judges have blasted the Justice Department for keeping the administrative immigration courts open as the novel coronavirus spreads across the United States. Court officials have now postponed all hearings except for those for detained immigrants, according to the court’s web site.
The judges, prosecutors and advocates have urged the Justice Department to shutter “all immigration courts” because of the risks of spreading the potentially deadly disease.
“Keeping the courts open is not only a health risk to everyone who comes to these courtrooms, it is creating a serious health hazard for the broader public. The Immigration Courts should be immediately closed,” Immigration Judge Ashley Tabaddor, the president of the National Association of Immigration Judges (NAIJ), said in a statement Sunday.
Approximately 60,000 migrants from Central America and other regions have been turned back to Mexico after crossing the southern border to await their asylum hearings since the Trump administration launched the program last year to curb mass migration. The Justice Department has estimated that 25,000 are still in Mexico awaiting hearings. Many have returned to their native countries. Some have disappeared or been killed, advocates say.
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
*
Before: SILER, WARDLAW, and M. SMITH, Circuit Judges.
In light of the rapidly escalating public health crisis, which public health authorities predict will especially impact immigration detention centers, the court sua sponte orders that Petitioner be immediately released from detention and that removal of Petitioner be stayed pending final disposition by this court. See 8 U.S.C. § 1252(b)(3)(B); 28 U.S.C. § 1651(a).
The matter is remanded to the BIA for the limited purpose of securing Petitioner’s immediate release.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
*
The Honorable Eugene E. Siler, United States Circuit Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, sitting by designation.
*******************
Yea!
Shows how the Article IIIs can take the initiative to save lives and do justice when they want to. How about a “say sponte” finding that the entire unconstitutional Immigration “Court” system is, well, . . . unconstitutional. Not “rocket science” — just justice!
Until Monday morning, President Trump’s most horrifying utterance with regard to the coronavirus was his sarcastic reaction to news that Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), whose wife has multiple sclerosis and therefore is in the high-risk category for infection, was self-isolating due to potential exposure to the coronavirus. “Gee, that’s too bad,” Trump snarked about his political rival. As bad as that was — mocking the possible life-threatening illness of others — he managed to top that with a truly horrifying tweet:
The cure — social distancing — has been imposed to save thousands of lives. But in Trump’s mind, the resulting economic slowdown and bear market from those measures are worse than a potentially catastrophic death toll. That’s the only reasonable interpretation of his outburst, which coincides with reporting from the New York Times that, “at the White House, in recent days, there has been a growing sentiment that medical experts were allowed to set policy that has hurt the economy, and there has been a push to find ways to let people start returning to work.”
For Trump and many in his party, what matters most is money. (“Some Republican lawmakers have also pleaded with the White House to find ways to restart the economy, as financial markets continue to slide and job losses for April could be in the millions.”) To them, letting medical experts set policy to combat a pandemic is a serious error. “Worse” than the deaths of thousands of Americans, in the minds of the narcissistic president, is the chance that his reelection could be impaired by bad economic numbers. Does it dawn on him that thousands of dead Americans might reflect poorly on him as well?
[More coverage of the coronavirus pandemic]
Trump’s latest spasm of indifference to other humans comes at a time when one of those experts, Surgeon General Jerome M. Adams, warns that the situation is about to get much worse. In a CBS interview, Adams said: “I didn’t expect to be starting off my week with such a dire message for America, but the numbers are going to get worse this week.” He reiterated, “Things are going to get worse before they get better. And we really need everyone to understand this is serious, to lean into what they can do to flatten the curve.”
Here we see the gap between Trump’s pecuniary and political interests (which he thinks depend entirely on the stock market) and the experts trying to get us to do things that would prevent greater loss of life. Trump’s behavior — denying the crisis, painting it as a threat from foreigners (when community spread is already well underway), constantly lying about progress being made, attacking political rivals and congratulating himself on his response (and forcing recitals of praise from advisers) — tells us that even a pandemic, in his mind, is all about him.
Trump may think he can sugarcoat coronavirus, but media critic Erik Wemple says it is time for the government to speak with one clear voice about public health. (Erik Wemple/The Washington Post)
With thousands of families facing a health crisis and millions suffering economic tragedy, Trump whines that he has not received sufficient credit for his actions (which mayors, governors and scientists say were grossly negligent and insufficient). All the while, he remains poised to thrust his hand into the cookie jar of government bailout money.
The experts must be heeded. The governors and mayors must be supported. Trump must be ignored or must delegate all significant decision-making to someone competent and conscientious of the human suffering unfolding before us. Otherwise, we are in grave trouble.
*************
With Trump, the goalposts are continually moving; what we might once have thought of as the “rock bottom” in the “race to the bottom” suddenly becomes just another milepost.
We are already in “grave trouble,” Jennifer! With a dim-witted narcissist sociopath in charge, a party of elitist grifters running the Senate, an irresponsible minority of the electorate mindlessly committed to Trump’s insanity, and a system that facilitates minority rule, the majority of us who are interested in saving lives (including those of the foregoing group) and preserving our democratic republic are, indeed, in dire straits.
Let’s flip Steven’s warped thinking around: Instead of giving a $500 billion bailout to America’s fat cat corporations, why not give a mere $1 billiondirectly to each of America’s335 million people. They could decide how best to spend it to “pump up” the economy: their own health care, investing in corporations, buying bonds, endowing universities, building houses, starting small businesses, going to the racetrack, taking cruises, philanthropy, or just spending it all wildly on rampant consumerism. Much cheaper than the bailout. Hell, Trump supporters could even choose to spend a night at every Trump property in the world!
And, better yet, neither Moore, “Munchkin,” Kudlow, Kushner, nor any of the other grifter/kakistocrats surrounding Trump could tell “average Americans” how to spend their money. After all, forgotten to Trump and his GOP, it actually is the people’s money with which they are lining their pockets and the those of their fat cat corporate buddies while tuning out our health care concerns. Heck, what’s a human life compared with a dollar?
Federal immigration courts that handle cases of detained immigrants are still open, despite a growing number of states and cities issuing “stay at home” mandates to combat COVID-19. On Sunday night, the organizations representing immigration judges, prosecutors, and defense lawyers jointly demanded—for the second time in a week—that the courts be closed.
Meanwhile, detained immigrants are staging hunger strikes at three New Jersey jails to protest the lack of sanitary conditions they fear could lead to outbreaks. Their protests come after confirmation of positive tests from two staff members connected with two other jails in the state that house immigrants.
The pipeline to feed those jails remains open. Although immigration enforcement officers have scaled back operations, they say they will continue to focus their enforcement on “public safety risks” and people subject to “mandatory detention on criminal grounds.”
“Their recklessness towards immigrant community well-being and immigrant lives is particularly disturbing—and even more dangerous in this moment because a virus doesn’t ask you for your legal status before it decides what to do,” said Camille Mackler, a New York immigration lawyer who is a fellow with the Truman National Security Project, a left-leaning think tank for national security issues. “This could get everyone sick.”
The Trump administration’s hardline immigration policies are intersecting with a highly contagious disease at a time when New York State leads the nation with at least 20,875 confirmed coronavirus cases. In New York on Friday, Attorney General Letitia James joined Bitta Mostofi, New York City’s commissioner of Immigrant Affairs, in calling for a shutdown of all immigration courts. They agreed with the judge’s union and lawyer organizations in urging for bond to be filed electronically.
The Legal Aid Society and the Bronx Defenders—two New York legal providers—sued in federal court on Friday to have clients who are susceptible to coronavirus released from ICE detention, including those with diabetes, heart disease, neurocognitive disorder, kidney disease, and lung and liver problems.
Officials with ICE said on Monday that there had been no detainees with confirmed cases of coronavirus of individuals in the agency’s custody. They said that they were testing detainees according to guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, but would not say how many. In a statement, a spokesperson said: “The health, welfare and safety” of ICE detainees “is one of the agency’s highest priorities.”
. . . .
*********************************
Read the rest of Liz’s report at the link.
And, here’s the full text of the letter from NY AG Letitia James:
VIA EMAIL
The Honorable William Barr Attorney General
U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington, D.C. 20530
Administrative Chief Immigration Judge Kevin Mart, Acting Court Administrator Paul Friedman
Varick Immigration Court
201 Varick Street, 11th Floor
New York, NY 10014
Assistant Chief Immigration Judge Philip J. Montante, Jr. Batavia Immigration Court
4250 Federal Drive, Room F108
Batavia, NY 14020
(212) 416-8050
STATE OF NEW YORK
OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL 28 LIBERTY ST.
NEW YORK, NY 10005
March 20, 2020
Assistant Chief Immigration Judge Carrie C. Johnson-Papillo Ulster Immigration Court
750 Berme Road, PO Box 800
Napanoch, NY 12458
Re: New York Immigration Court Operations During COVID-19 Outbreak
Dear Attorney General Barr, Honorable Judges, and Mr. Friedman:
I write to support efforts to protect practitioners, staff, and the public at New York State immigration courts amid the expanding COVID-19 outbreak. Organizations that provide free legal representation to indigent non-citizens at these courts, including those that make up the New York Immigrant Family Unity Project (NYIFUP), Prisoners’ Legal Services of New York, and the ECBA Volunteer Lawyers Project, have reported that some of its members have COVID-19 symptoms or have been exposed to an individual with COVID-19. These organizations requested measures to reduce the risk of exposure to the virus, and while EOIR has
taken some steps to reduce hearings and court traffic for non-detained cases, current policies still require extensive in-person interaction in cases involving detained individuals.
During this national public health emergency, it is incumbent upon us all to mitigate the spread of this novel virus. Court administrations at the state and federal level have instituted protocols that allow court business to continue but also safeguard the public health, including closing non-essential parts of the court and adjourning new trials. A similar approach is appropriate and warranted in immigration courts.
I therefore ask that you at a minimum adopt the proposals put forth by NYIFUP providers at all immigration courts in New York State. These proposals include adjourning master calendar hearings, presumptively permitting telephonic appearances for bond and individual hearings, and presumptively permitting extensions and continuance requests. Especially in courts where respondents appear in person and where witnesses must travel from out of town, these measures are necessary to minimize human contact. I also request that you institute a means for practitioners to submit these motions electronically. Currently, practitioners are required to submit these motions in person at the court or through the mail via post offices. Requiring these in-person or by mail submissions not only causes delays in submitting these important requests, it also unnecessarily jeopardizes the health of those involved.
These are unprecedented times. It is imperative that all agencies adjust policies and practices to protect the health and welfare of our community. I implore you to take these critical steps here.
Sincerely,
Letitia James
New York State Attorney General
***********************************
Don’t expect much to happen until folks start dropping and dying. By then, it will be too late! But, perhaps that’s just “business as usual” in a system that has made rationality and concern for humanity non-factors. And, to date, there has been no accountability, by Congress or the Article IIIs for any of the outrageous, life-threatening, scofflaw, unconstitutional actions of the Trump regime in the immigration area. Indeed, the Supremes and other U.S. appellate courts have actually “rubber stamped” their “seal of judicial approval” one some of the most outrageous conduct employed by Miller and the White Nationalist cabal.
While the lives and human dignity of migrants has been of little visible concern to the Congress, the Supremes, and many Circuit Courts of Appeals (that’s actually what the regime’s program of “Dred Scottifying” and “maximum dehumanization” aims to achieve) perhaps the illness and even death of judges, lawyers, and court personnelwill finally get the attention of the “exalted ones” in their rarified, risk-free air. On the other hand, the Senate GOP doesn’t seem to have “gotten the message” even as their own colleagues start to drop.
A new lawsuit argues that immigrant families being held under the Trump administration’s family detention policy should be released immediately because they are at grave risk of contracting the coronavirus due to conditions in those facilities.
Lawyers filed suit in federal court in Washington on Saturday on behalf of more than three dozen families held at a trio of detention centers in Texas and Pennsylvania.
Advocates say the communal housing arrangements, limited cleaning supplies and the regular influx of new families make the centers a potential hotbed for Covid-19 infection and defy guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control discouraging any gathering of more than 10 people.
“Detained mothers, fathers and children are forced to live and sleep in close quarters and required to congregate and as a result, cannot achieve the ‘social distancing’ needed to effectively prevent the spread of COVID-19,” according to the suit, filed by immigration lawyers in New York, Pennsylvania and Texas. “Even in their beds they cannot even sleep or receive the required distance necessary to protect themselves.”
The suit says cleaning in the so-called Family Residential Centers is inconsistent because it is typically done by detainees who are paid $1 a day for that work. Hand sanitizer and masks are not typically available to the immigrants, and gloves are provided only for certain purposes, the complaint alleges.
“It is almost certain to expect COVID-19 to infect and spread rapidly in family residential centers, especially when people cannot engage in proper hygiene or isolate themselves from infected or asymptomatic residents or staff,” the suit contends.
. . . .
However, immigration lawyers also objected on Sunday after ICE said attorneys wishing to consult immigration detainees in person would now be required to “wear disposable vinyl gloves, N-95 or surgical masks, and eye protection.” Beginning Monday, attorneys need to “provide” those items themselves, new ICE guidelines say, despite the fact they are in short supply.
“.@ICEgov requiring attorneys to supply their own personal protective equipment to serve detained clients, when medical providers say THEY don’t have enough, is appalling and #unconstitutional,” immigration lawyer Allen Orr Jr. wrote on Twitter.
. . . .
***********************
Read Josh’s full article at the link.
This is like a continuing performance of the “Theater of the Absurd.” Except, real lives and the health of our nation are at stake here.Shut down the unconstitutional, inhuman, and dangerous to our national health DHS Gulag now!
Due Process Forever! The New American Gulag Never!
IDEA:Dems should insist that closing the Gulag for all but the very few demonstrably dangerous individuals (who should be detained by the Bureau of Prisions, not DHS or a private contractor) be part of the multi-trillion dollar stimulus package! The money and personnel could be “repurposed” to FEMA.
