July 21 Updates
National
A July 8 Memo from Todd Lyons (ICE director) states that undocumented people will no longer be allowed to request a bond hearing if they are detained.
Lyons stated that undocumented people should be detained “for the duration of their removal proceedings,” which can take years.
This comes as ICE has received billions of dollars to increase the number of migrants in detention
This story was originally published by WaPo, but is available for free at the Independent.
Detention Watch Network has relaunched their Communities Not Cages campaign!
As of 7/16, the ACLU has sued ICE over the constitutional right to speak to counsel that ICE has been denying to all people currently incarcerated at the so-called “Alligator Alcatraz” detention center.
Take action and tell Congress that this horrific location created solely to torture people needs to be shut down immediately.
Migration-Related Provisions Included in the Budget Reconciliation Bill (H.R. 1): Resource from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops: https://www.usccb.org/resources/Reconciliation%20Migration%20Summary.pdf
Chicago
Immigration Court Judges have been terminated at alarming rates
As of July 15th, Judge Jennifer Payton was terminated without cause from her position as Assistant Chief Immigration Judge. It is speculated that her termination was directly related to an oversight visit by Senator Durbin, during which she showed him around.
Judge Carla Espinoza is also no longer employed by the Chicago Immigration Court. She was handling more cases of detained people than anyone else, so court watch volunteers will be reporting back once they conduct their investigation of what is going to happen in her absence.
From Jack Lloyd (Court Watch Lead): “I was in Judge Espinoza's court last week and the government lawyer repeatedly made the argument that no undocumented person is entitled to bond, saying this was a ‘new directive this week’ from higher up in DHS. Judge Espinoza ignored the argument and the government reserved appeal.”
From PBS: 17 Immigration Court judges have been fired across the country in the past week alone. Read more here.
ICIRR held their Health Info webinar/explainer on 7/9 and 7/10
If you haven’t already, please donate to support Gladis and her family here–
She was unfortunately (and unjustly) deported to Honduras last week and OCAD has released a call for donations on their social media here. Please share.