BOSTON — In an email to The Boston Globe on Thursday, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement defended a new directive that immigration attorneys say will significantly hinder due process for immigrants. ICE claimed the change “closes a loophole to our nation’s security based on an inaccurate interpretation of [existing] statute,” according to The Globe.
Immigration attorneys have sharply criticized the policy shift, calling it unconstitutional and without precedent. “If it sticks, it’s catastrophic,” said attorney Robin Nice. “It’s hard to overemphasize how devastating it would be and just logistically problematic,” The Globe reported.
The policy would create significant new hurdles for immigrants and their attorneys fighting deportation. Analysts expect the directive will be challenged in federal courts, according to The Globe.
ICE maintains the directive is consistent with legal precedent, citing a 1996 law requiring mandatory detention for certain criminal offenses. “All aliens seeking to enter our country in an unlawful manner or for illicit purposes shall be treated equally under the law, while still receiving due process,” ICE stated, according to The Globe.
But immigration advocate Sarah Sherman-Stokes said ICE’s interpretation is flawed. “ICE is acting like that applies to anyone who is undocumented, and that just flies in the face of precedent decisions over the last 30 years,” she told The Globe.
Sherman-Stokes and others argue that even those who entered the country unlawfully may still have a legal right to remain. Attorneys fear the new policy could violate due process protections by removing judges’ discretion in bond decisions.
Alexandra Peredo Carroll, director of legal education and advocacy at the Mabel Center for Immigrant Justice, called the policy “cruel.” “Their only purpose is to deprive people of due process,” she said, according to The Globe.
Lawyers said that without bond hearings, detained immigrants will struggle to collect necessary documents, communicate with legal counsel, or prepare cases for relief from deportation. “Putting someone in detention, what that does to them psychologically, physically, can be torturous,” Peredo Carroll said.
“This is just a way to basically deprive folks of the ability to apply for relief that our system is currently set up to provide,” she added.
Massachusetts immigration attorneys say ICE facilities in the state are already stretched thin and cannot accommodate an influx of new detainees. Advocates worry that individuals will be transferred to larger, more remote detention centers like the controversial “Alligator Alcatraz” in Florida, which has been accused of overcrowding and unsanitary conditions.
Massachusetts has only two ICE detention facilities: a men’s facility in Plymouth County Correctional Facility and a short-term holding center in Burlington. The Burlington facility is intended for stays of up to 12 hours, but detainees have reported being held there for days in overcrowded cells without access to showers or bedding, according to The Globe.
Luis, a 25-year-old Salvadoran immigrant, spent two days in Burlington after being detained by officers—some in masks and sunglasses—while walking to a friend’s house in May. He then spent 19 days in the Plymouth facility before being released on due process grounds while his case proceeds.
“I’ve never committed a crime, I have always tried to behave well, do things right, pay my taxes, not get into problems,” Luis told The Globe in a phone interview conducted in Spanish. He asked to be identified only by his first name to avoid retaliation by immigration authorities.
Luis came to the United States at 16 to escape gang violence and now lives with his father, helping run the family business. Since his release, he said he constantly looks over his shoulder in fear.
ICE’s new bond restrictions have made him “very afraid” of being detained again. “If they don’t let me out on bail, I can’t fight the case anymore, so they’re going to deport me after so many years of doing everything right with the law,” he said.
Luis is not alone. His fear is widely shared among immigrants as ICE’s policy change casts a chilling effect across immigrant communities nationwide.
