SAN JOSE, Calif. (KGO) — In a San Jose federal courtroom, a judge heard a local case with nationwide implications.
A federal class-action lawsuit against U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem and the Department of Justice seeks to put a stop to a policy of detaining immigrants the government previously determined were neither dangerous nor a flight risk.
The policy implemented this year allows ICE to detain people, who have not been determined to be a danger to the community or a threat to flee, at check-in appointments and at immigration court.
The class-action lawsuit seeks to end this policy.
Bree Bernwanger, Senior Staff Attorney with the ACLU of Northern California, says the case of Frescia Garro Pinchi is an example of why that policy is problematic.
“It’s about what ICE, what police can do and why they can throw someone into jail,” Bernwanger said. “We have all seen the images of ICE agents going into immigration courts and grabbing people out of their family’s arms for no reason. That is something that should concern us all.”
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Garro Pinchi is a Hayward resident who left Peru and is seeking asylum based on her sexuality.
In July, she was detained while attending her immigration court hearing in San Francisco.
After filing a petition for her arrest, Berwanger said the government was asked by U.S. Federal Court Judge Casey Pitts what reason they had to detain Garro Pinchi.
“They said, ‘nothing. We just think we have discretion to detain her,'” Bernwanger said. “That explains what they have been doing when they sweep people up who have been following the rules and complying with the law and that’s what has to stop.”
Tuesday in U.S. federal court, the government justified their position.
The DOJ did not provide a formal comment after the hearing despite our request.
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But during court, their lawyers said arrest is part of the risk of being here illegally and that laws on detention give them the ability to detain at their discretion.
Jordan Wells, a Senior Staff Attorney at the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area, argued this presents a catch 22 – offering immigrants and asylum seekers the choice of giving up an immigration case or giving up their freedom.
“It’s not that ICE can never do this. It’s that they have to have a policy that’s well-reasoned,” Wells said. “And, as with so many of the policies under this administration, they declare an emergency or declare an invasion and they just start moving fast and breaking stuff.”
The ACLU formally requested to pause this policy while the lawsuit plays out in court.
Judge Pitts will mull over the arguments made during this hearing.
While he says there is some urgency to this matter, a final decision may take several weeks.
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