ACLU Sues to Stop Trump Administration from Enforcing Federal Immigration Laws

In this Thursday, March 14, 2019, photo, a Border Patrol agent talks with a group suspecte
AP Photo/Eric Gay

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a lawsuit in the United  States District Court for the Southern District of New York on Thursday in an attempt to stop the Trump administration from enforcing federal immigration law with a planned roundup on Sunday of illegal migrants who have not appeared at deportation hearings.

According to the lawsuit the Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project, Central American Resource Center, Immigrant Defenders Law Center, and Public Counsel are suing Attorney General William Barr, James McHenry, director of the Executive Office for Immigration Review, Kevin McAleenan, Department of Homeland Security secretary, Mark Morgan, acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and Thomas R. Decker, field office director of ICE’s New York Field Office.

The lawsuit claims that the Trump administration’s system for notifying migrants about their legal obligation to appear in court is “in chaos,” and seeks a court order to allow the migrants to appear before an immigration judge before deportation could take place.

“For the many families who came here as refugees fleeing violence, deportation is a death threat,” Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, said in a news release, according to the New York Post.

“We will fight to ensure no one faces this kind of peril without having their case considered in court,” Lieberman said.

Most of the estimated 2,000 immigrants in about 10 U.S. cities are from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. Many claim to be fleeing violence in those countries and want asylum in the United States, the lawsuit stated.

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