Civil Rights Groups Say Deportation Raids Violate Constitution
According to a new report, federal agents may have violated the U.S. Constitution by detaining over 120 undocumented immigrants during the government's mass deportation raids earlier this month.
As previously reported, since Jan. 2, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has apprehended 121 Central American mothers and children in Georgia, North Carolina and Texas. In turn, the raids have caused widespread panic within Latino communities, while advocates have argued the government is unfairly targeting Central American families who should be granted refugee status.
On Thursday, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) and the Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights published a report that raises serious legal concerns about the tactics used by federal immigration officials who conducted raids in Georgia. The report also documents the horror stories that some of the detainees endured during the raids.
According to the report, federal agents used "aggressive tactics" and did not have warrants to enter people's homes.
"When law enforcement is entering people's homes without warrants, locking them up and denying them their right to an attorney, we should all be concerned," SPLC attorney Eunice Cho said in a statement sent to Latin Post. "This misguided enforcement strategy is also fueling our nation's mass incarceration problem."
Instead of conducting further raids, the report urges the Obama administration to help the immigrants who have fled ongoing violence in countries like El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala.
"The United States must address the humanitarian crisis in Central America, not resort to unconstitutional tactics that punish those we are bound by law to protect," the report states.
The civil rights group also states that detained women were not allowed to contact their lawyers until after they were transported to a family detention center in Texas.
One detained mother, named Digna Urias, said officers came to her daughter's home early in the morning, saying her daughter had a problem with her ICE ankle monitor. After her daughter opened the door, Urias and her children were taken away by officers.
"Our family is devastated," Urias said. "This situation has affected us so much; it's not fair that they can treat us like this."
In response, ICE issued a statement Thursday, saying many of those deported had recently crossed the U.S. border illegally and were subject to final removal orders.
"All individuals taken into custody during this targeted operation were subject to a final order of removal issued by an immigration judge," the ICE statement reads, according to The Atlantic-Journal Constitution. "Warrants are issued only in criminal cases; ICE conducted civil immigration enforcement in accordance with a civil order issued by an immigration judge after full due process, and in full compliance with the Fourth Amendment."
ICE also denies restricting detainees' access to legal counsel.
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