Editor’s Note: KTLA reached out to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for comment prior to its release. At the time of publication, DHS was not responding. KTLA will update this article with new information that is now available.
Those detained during immigrant raids in Los Angeles and elsewhere are far less likely to leave deportation hearings amid a new interpretation of the rules decades ago.
As reported by CBS News, immigration and customs enforcement agencies have directed attorneys to argue that “detainees facing deportation are not eligible for release on bonds,” a position born from “reinterpreting immigration laws from the 1990s.”
“Previously, ICE’s forced detention policy was generally limited to recent border carriers and non-citizens who were convicted of certain crimes,” CBS News added.
Immigration attorney Alma Rosa Nieto told KTLA’s Jennifer McGraw that such a plan probably wouldn’t help the federal government reduce the number of people coming to the country illegally.
Instead, it sends a message to those already here, she said.
“The message sent to family and people detained them for not pursuing the right to fight just being repatriated and losing their green cards or for the right to fight for the relief of immigrants, where many have rights,” she said.
Speaking to The Washington Post, Greg Chen, senior director of government relations at the American Association of Immigration Bar Associations, noted that the change is also what will cause more people to detain.
“This is their way of introducing ways to detain even more people nationwide,” Chen said. “We need to detain far more people without actually reviewing the individual situation.”
Facilities used to detain people in immigration cases have often been criticized for overcrowded housing, lack of mental health care and other issues.
DHS did not immediately return a request for KTLA’s comment. This story will be updated when a response is received.
Source link
