The Trump administration is now preventing detained immigrants from submitting photos, fingerprints and other biometric measures because without that information immigration cases are automatically denied.
In response, a group of noncitizen detainees has filed a federal class-action lawsuit in the District of Columbia accusing the Department of Homeland Security of requiring the submission of biometric data while simultaneously denying opportunities for immigrants to meet that requirement.
Skye Perryman
“In its zeal to block paths for lawful immigration, the Trump-Vance administration has yet again set up an unlawful trap for noncitizens, creating a system where people are required to meet a condition for relief and then blocking them from ever meeting it,” said Skye Perryman, one of three civil and legal rights groups representing the plaintiffs.
“This policy is as unlawful as it is cruel — it strips people of their legal rights, shuts down pathways to safety and stability, and fast-tracks deportation without due process. Courts exist for moments like this,” she said.
“This policy is as unlawful as it is cruel.”
Caught up in the Catch-22 situation are victims of human trafficking, abandoned or abused children, those facing persecution if deported and the noncitizen family members of Americans, all of whom are eligible under U.S. law for immigration protections, according to J. Z. et al. v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security et al.
“The Biometrics Policy thus closes the door to remedies that are, for many people, their only chance to avoid deportation — remedies that Congress entitled eligible noncitizens to seek,” says the complaint filed April 30.
“The policy prevents plaintiffs and others like them from accessing these remedies no matter how long their application has been pending, how much money they paid to have it considered, what relief they seek, or how strongly their case merits relief. The policy forecloses such relief even when USCIS (U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services) would have granted it if it fulfilled its obligation to consider the application,” the lawsuit says.
The DHS policy also is a violation of the Fifth Amendment guarantee to due process and the Administrative Procedures Act because the agency did not provide an adequate explanation for the change, plaintiffs claim. “Without this court’s intervention, plaintiffs and the class will face irreparable harm. They will lose their right to pursue lawful immigration status before being deported, and some will face prolonged detention when relief would have otherwise led to their release.”
Family separation and persecution in countries of origin also will result for many of those denied the opportunity to apply for protections, the lawsuit adds. “In short, they will face the very harms that Congress designed these paths to immigration relief to prevent.”
The rule change is one of many attempts by DHS and Immigration and Customs Enforcement to deny due process rights guaranteed to immigrants in the U.S. Constitution.
Michelle Mendez
Other approaches include bypassing immigration courts in deportation proceedings, denying detainees access to legal counsel, eliminating funding for immigrant legal services, laying off or firing immigration judges and conducting warrantless arrests.
But it’s important to note that the federal government engineered the biometrics dilemma specifically to stymie U.S. law, said Michelle Mendez, director of legal resources and training at the National Immigration Project, which is co-litigating the case.
“Require biometrics, refuse to collect them, then punish people for the gap you created. That’s not administration; that’s a trap. A deliberately broken process they’re now citing as proof that people eligible for benefits and protections deserve to be deported,” Mendez said.
“Without intervention from the court, the Trump-Vance administration will use this newest mass-deportation policy to systematically separate more families and deport more people to danger, even if they have pending applications for legal protection,” added Mary Georgevich, a senior litigation attorney at the National Immigrant Justice Center, which is also representing plaintiffs in the lawsuit.