Volunteers flock to immigration courts to support migrants arrested in the hallways
By MARTHA BELLISLE CEDAR ATTANASIO and COLLEEN SLEVIN Associated Press SEATTLE AP After a Seattle immigration judge dismissed the deportation affair against a Colombian man exposing him to expedited removal three people sat with him in the back of the courtroom taking his car keys for safe-keeping helping him memorize phone numbers and gathering the names of family members who needed to be notified When Judge Brett Parchert requested why they were doing that in court the helpers disclosed Immigration and Custom Enforcement officers were outside the door waiting to take the man into custody so this was their only chance to help him get his things in order ICE is in the waiting room the judge urged As the mass deportation campaign of President Donald Trump focuses on cities and states led by Democrats and unleashes fear among asylum-seekers and immigrants their legal defenders sued this week seeking class-action protections against the arrests outside immigration court hearings Meanwhile these assistants are taking action A diverse group faith leaders college students grandmothers retired lawyers and professors has been showing up at immigration courts across the nation to escort immigrants at peril of being detained for deportation by masked ICE leaders They re giving families moral and logistical encouragement and bearing witness as the people are taken away Immigration court volunteer Marjorie Miller gives guidance and encouragement to a Colombian man who was about to be taken into custody by Immigration and Custom Enforcement officers in the hallway after his hearing with an immigration judge in Seattle June AP Photo Martha Bellisle The Northwest Immigrant Rights Project was inundated by so several district members wanting to help that they made a volunteer training video created Know Your Rights sheets in several languages and started a Google sheet where people sign up for shifts noted Stephanie Gai a staff attorney with the Seattle-based legal services non-profit We could not do it without them Gai disclosed A few assistants request time off work so they can come in and help Robby Rohr a retired non-profit director declared she supporters regularly Being here makes people feel they are remembered and recognized she mentioned It s such a bureaucratic and confusing process We try to help them through it Recording videos of detentions to post online online Assistants and legal aid groups have long provided free legal orientation in immigration court but the arrests have posed new challenges Since May the governing body has been asking judges to dismiss deportation cases Once the judge agrees ICE administrators arrest them in the hallways and put them in fast-track deportation proceedings no matter which legal immigration pathway they may have been pursuing Once in custody it s often harder to find or afford a lawyer Immigration judges are executive branch employees and while several have resisted Homeland Shield lawyers dismissal orders in certain cases multiple are granted FILE Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents escort a detained immigrant into an elevator after he exited an immigration courtroom Tuesday June in New York AP Photo Olga Fedorova file Masked ICE agents grabbed the Colombian man and led him into the hallway A volunteer took his backpack to give to his family as he was taken away Other cases on the day s docket involved immigrants who didn t show up Parchert granted removal in absentia orders enabling ICE to arrest them later When urged about these arrests and the participants at immigration courts a senior spokesperson with the Department of Homeland Safety revealed ICE is once again implementing the rule of law by reversing Biden s catch and release program that allowed millions of unvetted illegal aliens to be let loose on American streets A few assistants have recorded arrests in courtroom hallways traumatic scenes that are proliferating online How plenty of similar scenes are happening nationwide remains unclear The Executive Office for Immigration Review has not circulated numbers of cases dismissed or arrests made at or near immigration courts While the greater part helpers have done this work without happening specific have been arrested for interfering with ICE agents New York City Comptroller and Democratic mayoral candidate Brad Lander was arrested after locking arms with a person in a failed attempt to prevent his detention Lander s wife attorney Meg Barnette had just joined him in walking displaced persons from a courtroom to the elevator FILE A family from Cuba is detained and loaded on to a bus with tinted windows and bars following an appearance at immigration court June in San Antonio AP Photo Eric Gay File Helping families find their relatives as they disappear The participants act of witnessing has proven to be critical as people disappear into a detention system that can seem chaotic leaving families without any information about their whereabouts for days on end In a waiting room serving New York City immigration courtrooms a Spanish-speaking woman with long dark curly hair was sitting anxiously with her daughter after she and her husband had separate hearings Now he was nowhere to be located The Rev Fabi n Arias a volunteer court observer revealed the woman whose first name is Alva approached him asking Where is my husband She established him his photo ICE detained him Arias communicated her and tried to comfort her as she trembled later welling up with tears A judge had not dismissed the husband s development giving him until October to find a lawyer But that didn t stop ICE agents from handcuffing him and taking him away as soon as he stepped out of court The news sparked an outcry by immigration advocates city officers and a congressman At a news conference she gave only her first name and urged that her daughter s be withheld Related Articles Lawyers say Venezuelan migrant ordered returned to US sent to home country under prisoner exchange House ending session early as Republicans clash over Epstein vote Pentagon tightens rules on getting health waivers to join the military Hunter Biden lashes out at George Clooney other Democrats over Joe Biden s campaign There are numerous illegal marijuana farms but federal agents targeted California s biggest legal one Brianna Garcia a college novice in El Paso Texas mentioned she s been attending immigration court hearings for weeks where she informs people of their rights and then records ICE agents taking people into custody We escort people so they re not harassed and help people memorize major phone numbers since their belongings are confiscated by ICE she reported Paris Thomas began volunteering at the Denver immigration court after hearing about the effort through a setup of churches Wearing a straw hat he in recent times waited in the midday heat for people to arrive for afternoon hearings Thomas handed people a small paper flyer listing their rights in Spanish on one side and English on the other One man walking with a woman advised him thank you Thank you Another man gave him a hug Denver volunteer Don Marsh disclosed they offer to walk people to their cars after court appearances so they can contact attorneys and family if ICE arrests them Marsh explained he s never done anything like this before but wants to do something to preserve the nation s rule of law now that unidentifiable leadership agents are snatching people off the streets If we re not all safe no one s safe he mentioned Attanasio broadcasted from New York City and Slevin from Denver
