ARLINGTON, Va. — A recent investigation by The Atlantic describes a justice system moving so fast that immigrant families are left confused, frightened and without meaningful access to due process. According to the reporting, a father from El Salvador was taken into ICE custody after a neighbor falsely accused him of breaking into a car and engaging in a domestic dispute.
Police quickly confirmed that the car he was accused of breaking into was his own, and the charges were dropped. But The Atlantic reports that even after he was cleared, he was denied release under a new law that blocks bond upon accusation of a crime.
With no criminal record and no active charges, he was still pushed through a rapid immigration hearing and lost any chance at due process.
His immigration hearing reflected the same lack of procedural fairness, The Atlantic reports. Cases were rushed through in minutes, with the judge cutting people off mid-sentence and showing impatience when detainees attempted to explain their circumstances.
At one point, Judge Karen Donoso Stevens ordered a man to “stop talking!” while that man’s own case was being heard.
According to The Atlantic, the accused father became emotional as he explained that ICE agents arrested him in front of his young children. He said their first reaction was to ask whether the officers who took him away had hurt him.
Instead of acknowledging the trauma of the arrest or considering the broader circumstances, Judge Stevens abruptly redirected the hearing, asking whether the man could afford a plane ticket back home. The reporting describes the question as seemingly disconnected from the father’s testimony and indicative of a process focused solely on removal rather than case facts or context.
Other hearings that day showed similar detachment between detainees and the court, the article states.
Parents who mentioned their children were repeatedly told such information was “not part of the case.”
One woman asked what would happen to her toddler if she was deported. The judge told her she would “need to discuss that with [her] deportation officer.”
Months later, the consequences of the El Salvadoran father’s case became clear, according to The Atlantic. His wife and three children began falling behind on rent after losing their only source of income.
The family relied on donations from relatives and church members to buy food.
With no hope for release and no realistic opportunity to fight his case from detention, he ultimately agreed to deportation, despite being cleared of wrongdoing.
He was sent back to El Salvador, leaving behind his wife and children in the United States, The Atlantic reports.
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