ICE in San Diego is arresting everyone who shows up for contractor check-in, attorneys say
Immigration and Customs Enforcement, through a contractor in its Intensive Supervision Appearance Program, or ISAP, called a group of people yesterday to come to appointments today at the contractor’s office.
Written by Kate Morrissey, Edited by Maya Srikrishnan
This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in San Diego have started arresting yet another group of people showing up to appointments they were asked to attend.
Attorneys are reporting that clients are being arrested at the Intensive Supervision Appearance Program office around the corner from the federal building after receiving calls Wednesday that they needed to check in.
ICE officers began arresting people outside of immigration court hearings in May and transitioned to arresting dozens at check-in appointments at the agency's offices in the federal building downtown in October.
More recently, the agency also began detaining people at green card interviews. Planned mass detentions at the ISAP offices, where many people are asked to check in instead of at the ICE office as part of the government's monitoring them on an alternative-to-detention program, are another escalation in the pattern of arresting people in official spaces where they have complied with government requests to appear.
Wednesday's arrests included a mother who showed up to the appointment with her young child, according to attorney Ginger Jacobs, whose firm represents the family. Jacobs said her client and the child were both taken by ICE, but they were released later Thursday morning after advocacy from attorneys.
She and other attorneys said that ICE is planning to arrest everyone who comes for an ISAP check-in.
She said many of those checking in either have long-term orders of supervision because they are stateless or they have protection from removal to their home country under withholding of removal.
Many people are born stateless because the country where they are born discriminates against their identity group and won't recognize them as citizens. Others might have been born in refugee camps or in countries that no longer exist.
Withholding of removal is a form of protection from deportation that recognizes someone would face persecution in their home country, but it doesn't give all of the benefits of asylum, meaning that there is no path to a green card or citizenship.
ICE declined to comment on the detention of the mother and child without having their identification numbers and names. The agency now asks journalists for this information even in cases where there are retaliation concerns and generally hasn't provided comment without this information.
When asked how many mothers and children the agency had detained at the ISAP office Thursday, a spokesperson referred Daylight to the public records request process.
Daylight San Diego has a guide for how to prepare for possible detention at an official appointment. The recommendations include talking to an attorney before the appointment, taking a friend or loved one to observe the appointment and making sure there are arrangements for pets, children, cars and any other dependents or belongings that might need attention.
