October 9, 2006
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: media@aclu.org
Groups Ask Federal Judge to Order Immediate Release of Immigrants Held
Illegally for Years
LOS ANGELES - Acting on behalf of four
immigrant detainees who are being held indefinitely in Southern California, the
American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, the ACLU Immigrants'
Rights Project and the Stanford Law School Immigrants' Rights Clinic today said
they have asked a federal judge to put an immediate end to the illegal
detention.
"These people have been kept away from their families,
their communities, and their lives for years -- as many as four years or more --
without even a hearing to determine if their prolonged detention is justified,"
said Ahilan Arulanantham, an ACLU of Southern California staff attorney. "Many
of them are refugees, and others are immigrants with U.S. citizen spouses,
children and full lives in Southern California. Yet they are being indefinitely
detained while they fight their immigration cases. This is not what America
stands for."
On Friday, the ACLU asked U.S. District Judge Terry
Hatter to order the release of the four detainees, or provide each of them
individual hearings. The action comes after the groups filed a class
action lawsuit on September 25 on behalf of people who have been held
arbitrarily for years while fighting their immigration cases.
In
the lawsuit,
Mussa v. Gonzales, the ACLU noted that both the U.S. Supreme Court
and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals have ruled that indefinite detention is
prohibited. "Six years after the Supreme Court effectively banned unreasonably
prolonged and indefinite detention in the immigration context, the government
continues to engage in a policy of de facto indefinite detention," the lawsuit
stated.
One detainee, Reverend Raymond Soeoth, is a Chinese
Christian who fled Indonesia with his wife in 1999 to escape persecution for
practicing his faith. He was initially allowed to work in the United States
while applying for asylum, and eventually became the assistant minister for a
church in the Riverside area. However when his asylum application was denied in
2004, the government detained him and has held him ever since.
Rev. Soeoth is seeking to reopen his asylum case based in part on
concern that he will face persecution from Indonesia's new government. The Ninth
Circuit Court of Appeals has prevented his removal from the United States until
his case is decided, but the government refuses to release him from the Terminal
Island Federal Detention Center, where he has been held for more than two
years.
"I came to this country because it is a land of human rights
and freedom, but now I have been inside this jail for two years, even though I
have never committed any crime," Rev. Soeoth said. "This is very hard for
my wife and for my parish. I hope the government will let me out."
"It is
illegal for the government to incarcerate immigrants for months on end without
even a hearing. Immigration cases can take years to resolve. Prolonged
incarceration deprives immigrants of their freedom, contact with their families
and the ability to earn a living," said Jayashri Srikantiah, associate professor
and director of the Immigrants' Rights Clinic at Stanford Law
School.
The ACLU has won the release of nearly a dozen people who
were arbitrarily detained, many of whom were held for years. Most were released
once the ACLU filed individual lawsuits, but because many other people remain
detained and do not have lawyers to challenge their unlawful detention, a class
action lawsuit was necessary, Arulanantham said. One detainee plaintiff in
Mussa
v. Gonzales has already been released since the lawsuit was filed.
"The government's detention policy is not only unlawful and
inhumane, it is also irrational," said Judy Rabinovitz of the ACLU Immigrants'
Rights Project. "The government is spending millions of dollars locking up
people whose detention serves no purpose. These individuals are ready to comply
with conditions of supervision, and even electronic monitoring if necessary.
There is no reason for them to be locked up for years while their cases make
their way through the courts."
The complaint is available online
at
www.aclu.org/safefree/detention/27040lgl20060925.html
