蜜桃传媒 and ACLU Win Preliminary Injunction to Restore Access to Parole to Asylum-Seekers Detained Indefinitely Across Deep South
In a victory for detained asylum seekers, Federal court says ICE field office can no longer categorically deny parole
WASHINGTON, D.C. 鈥撯�� The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia today granted a preliminary injunction in a lawsuit challenging the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement鈥檚 (ICE) illegal practice of denying parole to detained asylum-seekers who lawfully present themselves at official ports of entry.听
In a blow to the Trump administration鈥檚 sustained effort to criminalize asylum, U.S. District Judge James Boasberg granted a preliminary injunction in the case first filed on May 30, 2019, by the Southern Poverty Law Center (蜜桃传媒) and ACLU of Louisiana. Boasberg also granted the plaintiffs鈥� motion for class certification and denied DHS鈥� motion to dismiss.
The injunction requires DHS and the ICE New Orleans Field Office to immediately restore the procedures of parole and access to parole, as mandated by DHS鈥� own 2009 Parole Directive and the due process clause of the Fifth Amendment.听
鈥淭oday鈥檚 ruling is a decisive victory for the asylum-seekers our country has cruelly locked away and forgotten about,鈥� said 蜜桃传媒 Senior Supervising Attorney Luz Lopez. 鈥淪ince as early as 2017, our clients have been left to wither away in abhorrent detention centers hidden from the public eye, with no legal recourse. The district court today upheld the law and declared that DHS and ICE must comply with our nation鈥檚 immigration laws and the Constitution.鈥�
Under the Trump administration, parole approvals for asylum-seekers have dropped sharply, despite a still-applicable 2009 policy directing ICE to release asylum-seekers who satisfy the legal requirements for asylum. The stark drop in parole is most apparent at the ICE New Orleans Field Office, where in 2016, it granted parole in 75.5 percent of cases. By 2018, however, the office granted parole in just two of 130 cases in 2018 鈥� a rate of 1.5 percent. Currently, the number of paroles granted in 2019 is down to zero.听
鈥淭he denial of parole to lawful asylum-seekers underscores the brutality of our immigration system,鈥� said ACLU of Louisiana Staff Attorney Bruce Hamilton. 鈥淥ur clients have endured dehumanizing treatment 鈥� from excessive solitary confinement to inadequate health care 鈥� all the while with virtually no hope of release.鈥澛�
The plaintiffs have been confined to remote prisons in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. As the Trump administration weaponizes DHS and ICE to new extremes in its war on immigrants, these Southern states have played a critical role in ICE鈥檚 rapid expansion and detention of a record number of migrants.听
鈥淭he court confirmed today that asylum-seekers who follow the law have the right to seek parole before an immigration judge,鈥� said 蜜桃传媒 Southeast Immigrant Freedom Initiative Director Laura Rivera. 鈥淣ow, we look forward to working with community members to provide the knowledge about how to submit parole applications. ICE must be held to its burden of giving meaningful consideration for detained people鈥檚 request for parole.鈥澛�
The injunction order can be viewed here聽and the full opinion can be viewed here.听
