Friday, May 18, 2018

Judge Calls ICE on Its Lies, Sessions Decision Threatens Thousands

While the media obsessed with analyzing what Trump means by “animals,” two important stories were being overlooked. On May 15 a U.S. district judge appointed by George W. Bush ruled that ICE had behaved in an “arbitrary and capricious” manner and without any “rational explanation for its decision” in its efforts to deport DACA recipient Daniel Ramírez Medina. And on May 17 Attorney General Jeff Sessions threw out years of immigration court practice, denying immigration judges the ability to give immigrants a break by putting their cases on hold.—TPOI editor

Daniel Ramírez Medina
Bad Liars
ICE claimed a Dreamer was “gang-affiliated” and tried to deport him. A federal judge ruled that ICE was lying.

By Mark Joseph Stern, Slate
May 16, 2018
On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Ricardo S. Martinez shot down the federal government’s efforts to strip Daniel Ramirez Medina of his DACA status. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement had arrested and detained Ramirez last year, then falsely claimed that he was affiliated with a gang and attempted to deport him. He filed suit, alleging that ICE had violated his due process rights. Martinez agreed. His order barred the federal government from voiding Ramirez’s DACA status, safeguarding his ability to live and work in the United States legally for the foreseeable future. What may be most remarkable about Martinez’s decision, though, is its blunt repudiation of ICE’s main claim—that Ramirez is “gang-affiliated.” The judge did not simply rule against ICE. He accused the agency of lying to a court of law.[…]

Read the full article:

For more on Daniel Ramírez’s case:

Justice Dept. Restricts a Common Tactic of Immigration Judges
Photo: Mark Wilson/Getty Images

By Katie Benner, New York Times
May 17, 2018
Attorney General Jeff Sessions issued a directive on Thursday that places limits on a tool commonly used by immigration judges and could put hundreds of thousands of deportation cases that are essentially closed back on federal court dockets.

The move, issued in an interim decision, is unlikely to reopen all the cases. But Mr. Sessions said that immigration courts could not put such cases on indefinite hold by using a practice known as administrative closure, which temporarily removes a case from a judge’s calendar and delays a proceeding that could remove an immigrant from the country.[…]

Read the full article:
Read Sessions’ decision:
https://www.justice.gov/eoir/page/file/1064086/download

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