Politico Pro
By Ted Hesson
March 15, 2018
The American Civil Liberties Union filed a class-action lawsuit today arguing that the Trump administration detains asylum seekers who should be granted parole.
The complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, identified five immigration field offices that, the ACLU said, stopped granting parole to most detainees.
The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement offices — Detroit, El Paso, Los Angeles, Newark and Philadelphia — cover enforcement across seven states.
According to the complaint, the plaintiffs passed a credible fear screening, the initial test to determine whether an asylum seeker rightly fears persecution in his or her homeland.
Despite clearing that hurdle, the lawsuit contended that the asylum seekers were detained by federal immigration officials to deter other arrivals, contrary to an agency parole policy issued in 2009.
“In 2013, nine out of 10 asylum seekers in the five field offices were found to meet the government’s criteria and were promptly released from immigration custody,” the ACLU said in a related announcement. “In 2017, under the Trump administration, parole grants by the ICE offices named in this lawsuit dropped to nearly zero.”
ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The ACLU was joined in the lawsuit by the Center for Gender and Refugee Studies, Human Rights First and Covington & Burling LLP.
For more information, go to: www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com
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