Beyond the Border: Lawsuits to inspect ICE facilities, school bus stop arrests and several high profile releases from custody
Here's what happened this week in immigration news.
Written by Kate Morrissey, Edited by Lauren J. Mapp
Welcome to another edition of Beyond the Border, which summarizes immigration news from across the country in a weekly roundup. Did I miss something? Message me via kate@daylightsandiego.org or on Instagram.
Want to support this work? Consider donating to Daylight San Diego or email maya@daylightsandiego.org if you're interested in sponsoring this newsletter.
Inspecting ICE facilities
The Washington State Standard reported that state health inspectors are asking a federal judge to order an immigration detention center in Tacoma to let them in.
San Diego County officials similarly asked a federal judge to allow a full health inspection of Otay Mesa Detention Center. A judge indicated this week that he is going to rule in the county's favor, but he asked the parties to meet and sort out the details of the inspection first, inewsource reported.
For Daylight, I spoke with a woman recently released from the facility about her experiences there, which included medical neglect, sub-par food and retaliation from guards. CBS 8 interviewed a therapist detained in December and held at the facility. She also said she was served low-quality food and unable to access a prescribed medication.
Immigration detention conditions
The Guardian reported that the number of deaths in ICE custody has grown to at least 18 after a Cuban man died at a facility in Georgia.
CalMatters reported that ICE has turned another former California prison into an immigration detention center.
LOOKOUT reported that ICE officers told a pregnant woman that she was lying about being pregnant, and that she miscarried later in custody.
CBC News interviewed a Canadian man held in ICE custody in Adelanto. He complained about mold on the building, food and laundry.
The Trump administration is scrambling to conduct environmental reviews at warehouses it plans to convert to ICE detention centers after a Maryland judge blocked plans at one site, The New York Times reported.
The Washington Post reported that use of force has increased dramatically in immigration detention centers under the Trump administration.
Latino USA spoke with journalist Estefany Rodríguez about her time in ICE custody.
Sen. Alex Padilla has opened an investigation into medical treatment of an Eritrean refugee in ICE custody at California City Detention Facility, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
School bus stop arrests
The Mississippi Free Press reported that ICE detained two brothers waiting for a school bus to go to high school. The outlet later reported that the brothers were allowed to return to their host family.
San Antonio Express-News reported that ICE detained two elementary school students and their step-mother while they were waiting at a school bus stop.
Third-country removals
USA Today mapped out how the Trump administration is deporting people to countries that they don't know.
Costa Rica offered to receive Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a man who was wrongfully deported to El Salvador, but the U.S. government is still trying to deport him to Libya, The Guardian reported.
The U.S. government deported a group of 15 Latin American people to the Democratic Republic of Congo, NPR reported.
Citizens detained and deported
ICE deported to Mexico a man who has a birth certificate showing he was born in Denver, The Texas Tribune reported.
L.A. Taco reported that ICE temporarily detained a U.S. citizen in Escondido.
Other arrests and deportations
ICE detained a woman in Kenner, Louisiana, in front of her children, leaving them with a family friend, WWL Louisiana reported. The woman is the sole provider for her children.
CNN reported that the Trump administration is trying to accelerate the deportations of children.
Prism reported that police in Austin, Texas, have referred people to ICE at least 37 times. That included a woman who called for help dealing with a friend's alleged abuser. ICE deported her and her U.S. citizen daughter to Honduras.
CNN posted a video on Instagram showing ICE forcefully detaining someone at a hospital in Brooklyn.
Federal court updates
Federal appellate judges in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that people who entered the U.S. without inspection and were not apprehended near the border are entitled to bond hearings before an immigration judge if the federal government detains them. The Trump administration has tried to argue the opposite in a major change from previous federal policy.
An appeals court blocked President Donald Trump's day one proclamation that cut off access to the U.S. asylum system for people crossing the southwest border, The Associated Press reported.
A federal judge ordered that public defenders should be provided to everyone filing petitions to get out of a new immigration unit at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola, Verite News reported.
A grand jury indicted a man whom ICE officials shot in California during a traffic stop, with charges of assaulting an officer with a deadly weapon, CNN reported. The man pleaded not guilty.
Hawaii Public Radio reported that federal judges on the islands are taking on habeas corpus cases from California because of how many have been filed by people in immigration custody.
A federal judge expressed sympathy for people held at Adelanto ICE Processing Center, but stopped short of ruling in their favor, saying she needed more time, LAist reported.
Texas Public Radio reported that civil rights groups have filed a new lawsuit to stop a state law that would let Texas police arrest people suspected of crossing the border without permission. A federal appeals court lifted a district judge's order blocking the law in another lawsuit.
Government resources
The FBI redirected a quarter of its staff to do immigration enforcement under the Trump administration, The Intercept reported.
Reuters reported that prosecutions for federal crimes dropped significantly during ramped up ICE raids in Minnesota.
Released from custody
Lidia Terraza, a journalist with N+ Univision, posted a video on Instagram of a woman getting reunited with her loved ones after 10 months in ICE custody.
A South Texas man who was deported despite protection from deportation under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program, returned to the U.S., The Texas Tribune reported. He was detained but eventually released to his family.
Capital B News reported that ICE released Rodney Taylor, a double amputee held for over a year in immigration custody, to his family in Georgia.
Other stories to watch
An Illinois commission concluded that the Trump administration encouraged federal officials to “violate constitutional rights, act recklessly and disregard public safety,” Block Club Chicago reported.
After a record-long partial government shutdown, lawmakers reached an agreement to fund components of the Department of Homeland Security whose main roles are not immigration enforcement, NBC News reported.
L.A. Taco spoke with a college freshman who lost an eye to a less-lethal round during a protest.
The New York Times reported that the Trump administration has issued new guidance that federal officials can deny green cards to people who expressed political opinions such as support for Palestinians or criticism of Israel.
The Seattle Times reported that because of community fears, groups are sifting through lots of false reports in trying to determine where ICE is operating.
ICE and Customs and Border Protection have used a gun range for training that is owned by the San Diego Sheriff's Office, inewsource reported.
Immigrant domestic workers are living in fear that their employers will use their immigration status to exploit them, The 19th reported.
ProPublica reported that scammers are taking advantage of immigrants desperate to protect themselves from the U.S. government's enforcement tactics. ABC News also looked into cases of scams, which include fake courtrooms.
A former ICE official told The Dallas Morning News that the agency has lost sight of its core mission.
KCRW reported that Rümeysa Öztürk, a Tufts University grad student detained by ICE because of her political opinions, has left the U.S. after being released from custody.
Block Club Chicago reported that a nonprofit teaching teens how to repair bicycles and customize lowriders is helping them process the violence they experienced during Operation Midway Blitz.
Thanks for reading! Take care and stay well.
— Kate
