No. of Recommendations: 17
Now there are two:
aclu.org - Ice deports u s citizen children held incommunicado prior to the deportationToday [April 25], in the early hours of the morning, the New Orleans Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Field Office deported at least two families, including two mothers and their minor children – three of whom are U.S. citizen children aged 2, 4, and 7. One of the mothers is currently pregnant. The families, who had lived in the United States for years and had deep ties to their communities, were deported from the U.S. under deeply troubling circumstances that raise serious due process concerns.
ICE detained the first family on Tuesday, April 22, and the second family on Thursday, April 24. In both cases, ICE held the families incommunicado, refusing or failing to respond to multiple attempts by attorneys and family members to contact them. In one instance, a mother was granted less than one minute on the phone before the call was abruptly terminated when her spouse tried to provide legal counsel’s phone number.The only problem I have with the order from Judge Doughty is that the court date is almost 3 weeks away. It should have been next week - bumping some other cases if needed. This is vital stuff to handle quickly.
Another thing that bothers me is that we're not hearing of ICE officers refusing to follow orders to violate these peoples' rights, even to the point of resigning if necessary.
Come 2029 (or sooner if possible), we need a serious re-think of the hiring practices at ICE. The job is not to humiliate people and inflict pain and anguish. It is to humanely but firmly enforce the law.
--Peter
