Officials at San Diego's Otay Mesa Detention Center have begun moving inmates to institutions in neighboring states, cutting off communication with local legal representation and perhaps extending their asylum cases.
This practice, which has an impact on inmates who are getting close to their trial dates, has been carried out without first informing their attorneys, which has complicated legal representation and increased the backlog in immigration court cases.
Attorneys express concern over the sudden lack of access to clients, which they argue undermines the attorney-client relationship and impedes their ability to manage cases effectively.
In addition to removing detainees from networks of support in their community, the transfers place them in jurisdictions where granting asylum is more stringent and where access to legal aid is more restricted.
This move by ICE raises significant concerns about the fairness and efficacy of the immigration legal process, leaving many detainees and their families in distressing uncertainty.
No comments:
Post a Comment