Foreign citizens held as they go to court

Via the Miami Herald – 02/02/2006 – Federal immigration agents deployed at the immigration court in
downtown Miami have begun to systematically detain foreign nationals
who show up for hearings — particularly those who are ordered deported
or have criminal convictions.

Detentions at immigration court have always occurred but until
recently were sporadic. Now, immigration lawyers who litigate cases say
detentions are taking place every day. One lawyer, however, said
detainees with no criminal records are held for hours or a few days and
then released under supervision while they await deportation or the
outcome of pending asylum cases.

Immigration officials this week confirmed the detentions and noted
that foreign nationals in proceedings who qualify for supervised
release are picked up at the court building, 333 S. Miami Ave., and
then placed under a system dubbed Intensive Supervision Program. One of
its features is electronic-monitoring ankle bracelets. Those who
qualify for supervised release include foreign nationals who have no
criminal record and are seeking asylum.

Court detentions mark yet another example of toughened enforcement
of immigration laws and regulations. The goal is to ensure that foreign
nationals in immigration court proceedings comply with appearances and
not flee.

More than 400,000 foreign nationals ordered deported nationwide have
been classified as fugitives over the years. They allegedly would go
underground when an immigration judge ordered expulsion, although in
some cases, court-hearing notifications were sent to the wrong address.

Detentions at the Miami court are part of a nationwide program.
Court detentions stem from pilot programs begun three years ago in
Hartford, Conn.

The first indication that systematic detentions were occurring at
the downtown court in Miami came during a Dec. 22 meeting between local
representatives of the American Immigration Lawyers Association and
Michael Rozos, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Florida field
office director for detention and removal operations.

Immigration attorney Mary Kramer, who attended that meeting, said
the lawyers group was concerned about the detentions and had asked
Rozos about the possibility of “limiting the number of arrests at
court to ensure due process of law.”

Kramer noted in an e-mail to The Miami Herald that attorneys for the
lawyers group told Rozos that their organization was “strongly opposed
to arresting people in the courthouse halls at their hearings, because
it is upsetting to the family members, raises security concerns, and in
some cases may be neither legally required nor justified.”

Kramer said that not all foreign nationals in immigration court
proceedings are detained. ”Percentagewise, the majority of individuals
appearing in court are not arrested,” she said.

Steve Forester, senior policy advocate for Haitian Women of Miami
Inc., an immigrant rights group, said his sources knew of almost 50
foreign nationals picked up at the court over a two-day period in late
January.

Some immigrants detained at court are taken to a site where they are
placed on supervised release, immigration attorneys said. At the site,
detainees are asked to identify a sponsor, watch a video on supervision
requirements, and then get a monitoring bracelet placed on an ankle —
prior to release.

Barbara Gonzalez, a Miami spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and
Customs Enforcement, confirmed that court detentions were taking place.
She said no figures on detentions were immediately available.

”We have always been present at the court,” Gonzalez said. “Every
case is evaluated on a case-by-case basis, and among the criteria
looked at is whether someone is a mandatory detention case, flight
risk, and obviously a top priority is expeditiously removing
criminals.”

Eduardo Soto, a Coral Gables immigration attorney, said that a
Colombian was placed in detention at the court last month after a judge
denied his asylum petition. Soto said the Colombian had arrived at
Miami International Airport with an allegedly false passport. He was
detained, then released because an asylum officer concluded that he had
a credible fear of persecution if returned home.

But when the Colombian went to immigration court, the judge found
that he did not qualify for asylum, and immigration officers detained
him. Soto said the Colombian is still detained.

Matthew Archambeault, an immigration attorney, said that last Aug.
31, one of his clients, a Sudanese seeking protection from deportation,
was detained after showing up late for a hearing, at which the judge
ordered deportation.