FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: media@aclu.org
LOS ANGELES — The ACLU of
Southern California, National Lawyers Guild, and National
Immigration
Law
Center asked a federal judge
today to order U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to allow attorneys for
workers arrested in last Thursday’s raid in Van Nuys to represent their clients
at their immigration interviews. Over the past few days, ICE officials barred
attorneys from accompanying their clients to the hearings, where workers were
interviewed and then charged with immigration violations.
ICE’s policy violates federal rules that allow people being interviewed by immigration agents to be accompanied by an attorney, at no expense to the government. Last week, the ACLU/SC and other groups offered to provide free legal screenings and assistance to nearly 200 people arrested in the raid.
“ICE has repeatedly prevented our attorneys from accompanying their clients into these interviews,” said Stacy Tolchin, an attorney and member of the National Lawyers Guild. “We are deeply concerned that ICE is trying to deport people without due process, as required under our nation’s basic laws.”
Ahilan Arulanantham, a staff attorney at the ACLU/SC, added that “federal law makes crystal clear what should have been obvious – in our country, people have a right to bring an attorney with them when they face interrogation by government agents. Our lawsuit seeks to hold the government accountable for its blatantly illegal conduct.”
The groups are also concerned that ICE agents are using coercive tactics against detainees during interviews to obtain information that can later be used against them. In a letter last week to ICE Field Office Director James Hayes, the ACLU/SC and other civil rights groups informed ICE of the offer of free legal representation and asked that ICE not deport these workers or ask them to give up their rights to representation until they had been given the opportunity to meet with attorneys.
The ACLU/SC and other groups are investigating potential civil rights violations during the raid, and detained workers and witnesses have reported evidence potential violations, including: