Immigration | Defender Services Office

The Trump Administration's Deportation Policy Is Spreading the Coronavirus (5/13/20)
By Jonathan Blitzer, New Yorker

Former ND Cal. FPD Grace DiLaura volunteers with UCLA's COVID-19 Behind Bars Data Project. She works on the prison data project and two of her colleagues have launched a project to track COVID-related immigration detention release requests, including habeas petitions, bond motions, and parole requests. The goal is to help practitioners track where releases have been granted, and what health conditions or prior convictions are at play. Because there isn't a central source of that information, though, they need to ask for it directly from immigration practitioners. Would you be willing to complete their short Google form for any immigration releases you have gotten, or circulate the form to any stalwart immigration practitioners you know? The form is designed to take 3 minutes to complete (per release motion). Please contact Grace Dilaura with questions at grace.dilaura@gmail.com.
Inside Otay Mesa Detention Center: 'We are wondering when this nightmare will end' (5/5/20)
By Hugo Ramirez, San Diego Union-Tribune
Judge who ordered ICE to immediately release California immigrants overruled; detainees will stay put(5/5/20)
By Andrea Castillo, LA Times
Teenagers in ICE detention are worried about COVID-19 (4/30/20)
By Lilly Fowler, High Country News
ICE Moved Dozens Of Detainees Across The Country During The Coronavirus Pandemic. Now Many Have COVID-19. (4/29/20)
By Hamed Aleaziz, BuzzFeed
Modeling COVID-19 and impacts on U.S. Immigration and Enforcement (ICE) detention facilities (2020 in press)
By M. Irvine, D. Coombs, J. Skarha, B. del Pozo, J. Rich, F. Taxman, T. Green, Journal of Urban Health
At least 72% of ICE detainees could have the coronavirus in 90 days, report predicts. A new paper, a collaboration of experts from a number of universities and the Government Accountability Project, predicts that within 90 days, between 72 and nearly 100 percent of people in ICE custody will be infected with the novel coronavirus. This would have a correspondingly dire effect on local healthcare systems. In the most optimistic scenario, the outbreaks at half of all ICE facilities would overwhelm ICE beds within a 10-mile radius.
ICE tells federal judge the court has no authority over its detention practices (4/27/20)
By Monique O. Madan, Miami Herald
Judge seeks COVID-19 test data on ICE detainees (4/24/20)
By Sara Betancourt, Commonwealth
U.S. to test some immigrants for coronavirus before deportation (4/23/20)
By Ted Hesson & Mica Rosenberg, Reuters
The Women Asked ICE for Soap. They Got Pepper-Sprayed Instead. (podcast) (4/22/20)
By Noah Lanard, Mother Jones
U.S. Deported Thousands Amid Covid-19 Outbreak. Some Proved to Be Sick. (4/18/20)
By Caitlin Dickerson & Kirk Semple, New York Times
Standing Order 20-13, In Re: Habeas Petitions from Immigration Detainees Seeking Immediate Release Due to COVID-19 (M.D. Penn. Apr. 2020)

Standing Order 2020-10, In re: Habeas Petitions from Immigration Detainees Seeking Immediate Release Due to COVID-19 (D.N.J. Apr. 17, 2020)

Nat'l Immigration Project of the Nat'l Lawyers Guild v. Executive Office of Immigration Review, No. 1:20-cv-00852 (D.D.C. Apr. 8, 2020) (Emergency Motion for Temporary Restraining Order and Request for Hearing), Dkt. 7
This litigation on behalf of several immigration lawyer groups and individuals with pending immigration cases demands that the Department of Justice's (DOJ) Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) take immediate necessary actions to prioritize the health and safety of attorneys and clients at risk in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
At Least 19 Children at a Chicago Shelter for Immigrant Detainees Have Tested Positive for COVID-19 (4/13/20)
By Melissa Sanchez, ProPublica
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement: COVID-19 Pandemic Response Requirements (4/10/20)
Immigration officials tweak detention policies again to authorize the release of more at-risk detainees.
Ice Release Order
A Doctor on ICE's Response to the Pandemic: "You Could Call It COVID-19 Torture" (4/13/20)
By Fernanda Echavarri Noah Lanard, Mother Jones
N.J. judge orders release of 5 ICE detainees as coronavirus outbreak mounts in jails (4/13/20)
By Stephen Rex Brown, New York Daily News
Judge orders ICE to release four California detainees because of coronavirus risk (4/9/20)
By Maura Dolan, LA Times
Hundreds Of Immigrant Detainees Considered Vulnerable To The Coronavirus May Be Released (4/7/20)
By Hamed Aleaziz, BuzzFeed
ICE says it will consider freeing vulnerable immigrants as coronavirus cases rise(4/7/20)
By Camilo Montoya-Galvez, CBS
Federal judge orders release of 22 more ICE detainees, 13 in York County Prison (4/7/20)
By Liz Evans Scolforo, York Dispatch
As pandemic rages, U.S. immigrants detained in areas with few hospitals (4/3/20)
By Kristina Cooke, Mica Rosenberg, Ryan McNeill, Reuters
As Coronavirus Spreads, So Does Panic and Confusion at Immigration Courts Across the U.S. (4/3/20)
By Liz Robbins, The Daily Appeal
US v. Decker, Director of the NY Field Office of the U.S. Immigrations & Customs Enforcement & Chad Wolf, Acting Secretary of the U.S. DHS, Memorandum Opinion and Order, No. 20 Civ. 2518 (3/26/20) (S.D.N.Y.) (ordering release of petitioners immediately, also restraining respondents from arresting petitioners for civil immigration detention purposes during the pendency of their immigration proceedings)
How Ice Operations in New York Set the Stage for a Coronavirus Nightmare in Local Jails (3/27/20)
By Ryan Deveraux, The Intercept
Lawsuit Calls for Emergency Release of ICE Detainees In a Massachusetts County (3/30/20)
By Julia Rock, Sara Van Horn, The Appeal
Everybody's Scared": Panic At Immigrant Detention Center After Positive Coronavirus Test (3/24/20)
By Emiliy Kassie, The Marshall Project
13 Changes to the US immigration system during the coronoavirus pandemic
By Priscilla Alvarez, CNN
ICE told CNN last week it is suspending removals to Italy, South Korea, and China. This may be true for this week as well.
In Tuscon, Arizona, there were 36 initial appearances on March 18, 2020.
India is not accepting international flights through 3/31/20 and probably beyond per the NYC consulate.
In New York City there are also confirmed removals to El Salvador and Dominican Republic this week and last Thursday, respectively.
Guatemla to resume receiving deportees from U.S. even with Asylum deal on hold over coronavirus (3/19/20)
By Camilo Montoya-Galvez, CBS News
Deportation flights from US to Guatemala were resumed as of March 19, 2020.
First ICE Employee Tests Positive for Coronavirus (3/19/20)
By Emily Kassie, The Marshall Project
ICE Detainees Launch Hunger Strike Over Coronavirus Fears (3/19/20)
By Brendan O'Connor, The Appeal
Guatemala turns tables, blocking U.S. deportations because of coronavirus (3/17/20)
By Molly O'Toole, Cindy Carcama, L.A. Times
Guatemala is not accepting repatriation flights. So even time-served clients from Guatemala will apparently sit in immigration custody until this is resolved which could be months. Not sure when/if other countries will follow suit, but one should expect it soon.
US migrant deportations risk spreading coronavirus to Central America (3/12/20)
By Jeff Ernst, The Guardian
As of March 18, 2020, deportations in California were still taking place to countries that had not closed its borders. Honduras may be suspending repatriation as well.
ICE Guidance on COVID-19 (last visited 3/20/20)
ICE is out with a new statement indicating that they are temporarily de-prioritizing detention of individuals who are not subject to mandatory detention "based on criminal grounds." It doesn't go into detail but that language seems intentional; presumably it is referring to 8 USC 1226(c). That probably excludes most of our clients, but not all: for example, if you have a 1326 client with no other criminal history, your client would not fall into 1226(c).
Practice Tip: It might be worth advocating with the gov't/ICE to see if you could get any such client released--particularly if that client is also from a country not currently accepting deportees.
Arizona, New Mexico and, it appears Maryland, are ceasing prosecutions of 1325 and 1326(a) prosecutions.
ACLU Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus for Release of Immigrant Detainees (W.D. Wash.) (3/16/20)