An update on Margaret the LGBT Ugandan ICE is trying to deport. ICE is now transferring her to another facility, despite her lawyer being here and she still has an appeal. They haven’t told Margaret or her lawyer where yet rollingstone.com/politics/polit…
This is a pretty common tactic for ICE. Shuffling asylum seekers around makes it harder for them and their lawyers to put together an effective case. It also prevents anyone from seeing them really, unless their lawyer can travel to where they’re moved to.
For instance, in order for a reporter to see them, the detainee has to sign release forms. ICE won’t take the forms to the detainee however. Their lawyer, if they have one, has to - or at least that’s what they did to me 24 hours before they decided to move Margaret
The whole process is designed for maximum chaos and death by a thousand cuts.
Keep in mind, in Uganda a group of gay men were reportedly just given forced “anal exams” which is rape, and the government is considering imposing the death penalty for LGBT people. Margaret’s case fits squarely within any definition of the asylum law’s purpose.
