Thread by @matt_cam

1/ An #immigrationjudge granted bond to client in ICE custody yesterday. He has no criminal convictions. Detention has taken a lot out of his mental & physical health & his family needs him home.

ICE has other ideas.

Join me for a case study in administrative violence below.

2/ Without revealing any privileged info: client is a late-20s #DACA recipient who came to the US at a very young age. He speaks perfect English, with a dry humor which I enjoy every time we talk. I've known him for 7+ years.

3/ Keeping this ambiguous, but: after a tough adolescence he put a lot of work soon after we met into putting himself on the right path. Married, responsible father, sober 7 yrs. The #immigrationjudge & DHS attorney from his case both still ask about how he's doing even now

4/ Anyway, R. (not his first initial, but let's just go with that) was taken into ICE custody after a relatively minor non-violent arrest (unlikely to result in conviction IMO) months ago. His case had to be transferred from the court's detained to non-detained docket. Delay #1.

5/ I have known him long enough that it wasn't much trouble to pull together a bond argument with updated supporting documents from church, friends, counselors, etc. We requested a bond hearing, which took longer than usual to get as #covid19 threat started getting real. Delay #2

6/ We were scheduled for a bond hearing when it was still (mostly) safe. ICE counsel (which bears burden to prove detainee's dangerousness in this jurisdiction) claimed to be unprepared for hearing, although they certainly appeared to have everything on file & ready. Delay #3

7/ My client was suffering badly by this time. I objected to delay & asked for the soonest possible hearing but it was still too far out. He (understandably) suffered a total mental health crisis which ICE couldn't handle and was briefly committed in state custody. Delay #4.

8/ He was under an order of mental health supervision at that point, but I don't have to be a doctor to know that the crisis was in re: detention & he would have been so much better off with his family. Even as #covid19 entered the facility we had to wait out the doctor's order

9/ Bond hearing date came while he was still in the state facility and I appeared because it was on the calendar. But ofc an imm judge has no jurisdiction over someone not in ICE custody, and DHS said he was now "non-detained" bc his facility doesn't work with ICE

Or do they?

10/ Turns out they do. Kind of. State law required them to notify the jail he was transferred from that he was being released from the facility. The jail holds ICE detainees, so ICE was notified. They could have not taken him back, but did.

Because ofc they did. Delay #5.

11/ A new bond hearing was scheduled for yesterday, a few days after he was returned to ICE. Despite ICE atempts to hold him responsible for something he clearly did (but was not convicted for) while struggling w/addiction many yrs ago, judge ordered bond. Much-needed good news.

12/ ICE then reserved its right to appeal this bond decision, placing an automatic hold of 1 business day on his release. If they really want to hold him for duration of appeal, they need to provide a *very* good reason + signoff from a senior supervisor. Extremely unlikely here.

13/ That's Delay #6 if you've been keeping track. They maintained a pretense that there was some possibility of appealing release on bond of someone w/no convictions, a demonstrated commitment to sobriety, & no threat of violence just to keep him from his family that much longer

14/ I was clear on the record that he had special #covid19 risk factors which should be considered for release. ICE insisted on taking this extra step anyway.

Imagine months in crowded conditions w/virus incoming... and then knowing you *should* be released. It's torture.

15/ I'd tried to explain the concept of the automatic hold to his family, but it hardly makes sense in English. (It's been found to be illegal in other jurisdictions, but is still on the books here.) They are desperate for me to do something. But we are once again at ICE's mercy.

16/ I always have some sense of who my clients are as people, but this is extra hard to watch after knowing this family for so long. They are devastated, unable to comprehend why the US government would inflict months of pain & uncertainty. "He's not a criminal!" I agree entirely

17/ ICE has never actually appealed any of my bond grants, although they have often invoked this hold. I can't imagine anyone signing off on this one. It's just an easy way to stick it to detainees a little more before release, at the cost of their mental health and your taxes.

18/ Maybe you've heard some of us say that "the cruelty is the point"; maybe you've agreed in the abstract. But everything about this is far too real. Nearly every ICE detention is an unnecessary act of cruelty inflicted for mere civil imm violations but this was...something else

19/ This moment in human history is the perfect time to consider why this country detains enough people to fill Madison Sq Garden every day, and how necessary that really is. Bc it turns out maybe it's a *whole* lot less damn necessary when it's a potential death sentence

20/ Thousands of people have been released from ICE custody to GPS monitoring or future ICE check-in dates around the country to diminish risk of #covid19 transmission in custody.

And it's... fine. They're fine. We're fine. They never needed to be in there.

#FreeThemAll

21/ My client should be released tomorrow morning--if ICE doesn't appeal. Usually they w/draw the hold pretty quickly, but not this time & no one will let me know what's going on.

If they do appeal & try to hold him, I may need you all to help me with a few phone calls.

/thread

22/ Also, if you are new to the concept of "administrative violence," I have some things to say about it here

https://twitter.com/matt_cam/status/971193559704580097

23/ UPDATE: Bond is being paid now, but past 24 hrs have been pure torture for client & his family as they deal with sudden loss of a family member together w/uncertainty of whether he'd be released. All bc an ICE attorney casually reserved right to appeal in an unappealable case

24/ I can specifically remember twice in 14 yrs when DHS counsel actually seemed to recognize the enormous harm that reserving the right to appeal a bond/grant of relief to an ICE detainee (which comes out to many more months in custody) can cause. I wish they understood.