What Justin Bieber's Arrest Would Mean for Another Non-Citizen

Washington, DC — The American Civil Liberties Union, Detention Watch Network, and the National Immigrant Justice Center today released a new guide for members of Congress to conduct vital in-person oversight visits of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention facilities in their districts and states. The Trump administration is attempting to suppress and deter authorized congressional oversight of immigration detention facilities – in contravention of appropriations law that has been in place for years. Last week, Representatives Danny K. Davis, Jesús “Chuy” García, Delia C. Ramirez, and Jonathan Jackson were denied entry to the Broadview ICE facility in Chicago, Illinois. That same day, ICE released a new policy attempting to limit visits by members of Congress to ICE facilities, field offices, and jails. The U.S. government uses immigration detention today more than at any point in history. ICE is currently detaining a record breaking 59,000 people in its custody. Trump is planning to use the reconciliation bill, currently under intense debate in the Senate, to finance the most extreme expansion of immigration detention in history to detain more than 100,000 people. If realized, this bill could skyrocket ICE’s budget to never before seen funding levels. ICE would have 13 times its current annual fiscal budget for detention, which is already operating at a historic high. This would provide a windfall to the private prison companies with ties to top-level officials in the administration. Immigrant justice advocates and authors of the guide issued the following statements: Anu Joshi, national campaign director for immigration at the ACLU, said: “Members of Congress are legally authorized to conduct oversight responsibilities, and now more than ever, it’s critical that they continue to uphold those responsibilities and demand accountability for ICE’s track record of abuse in immigration detention. Our communities have a right to know how their taxpayer dollars are being used to fund the Trump administration’s cruel agenda to deport our immigrant neighbors and loved ones.” Setareh Ghandehari, advocacy director of Detention Watch Network, said: “The intentional withholding of information by the administration paired with ICE’s culture of secrecy is yet another hallmark of an authoritarian regime, disappearing people and putting lives in jeopardy. Detention center visits are a critical tool for members of Congress to expose the ways ICE’s immigration detention system is inherently inhumane and rife with abuse. Constituents across the country are making clear they don’t want ICE agents or detention centers in their communities, and our members of Congress must take bold action by using every tool in the toolbox, including detention center visits, robust information requests, and strategic interventions like striking down the MAGA-backed reconciliation bill. Our elected officials must be vocal and resolute in their opposition to Trump’s cruel mass detention and deportation agenda.” Jesse Franzblau, associate director of policy for the National Immigrant Justice Center, said: “Congress has the power and responsibility to demand visibility into ICE detention facilities where people face life threatening conditions. Immigration detention is a dark hole notorious for inhumane treatment, run largely by private prison companies who lobby intensely for taxpayer dollars to profit massively off the incarceration of human beings. At a time when Congress is debating the biggest historical increase in funding for immigration mega prisons, it is imperative that our elected officials see first hand the inside of these facilities and prevent any more funding for ICE detention.  

NEWARK, N.J. – A federal court today granted bail to Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia University graduate student and lawful permanent resident targeted for deportation by the Trump administration because of his Palestinian rights advocacy. He will be able to return to New York to be with his wife and newborn son while his case proceeds. “After more than three months we can finally breathe a sigh of relief and know that Mahmoud is on his way home to me and Deen, who never should have been separated from his father,” said Dr. Noor Abdalla, Mahmoud Khalil’s wife. “We know this ruling does not begin to address the injustices the Trump administration has brought upon our family, and so many others the government is trying to silence for speaking out against Israel’s ongoing genocide against Palestinians. But today we are celebrating Mahmoud coming back to New York to be reunited with our little family, and the community that has supported us since the day he was unjustly taken for speaking out for Palestinian freedom.” Last Friday, the government informed the court it would continue to detain Mr. Khalil in a remote ICE detention facility in Jena, Louisiana, over false allegations related to supposed omissions on his green card application. The government’s new reliance on the “misrepresentation” allegations comes after the judge ruled the government could not keep detaining him on the grounds that his speech had adverse foreign policy consequences. Since being detained on March 8, Mr. Khalil has missed the birth of his first child, their family’s first Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, and his graduation from Columbia. “No one should fear being jailed for speaking out in this country,” said Alina Das, co-director of the Immigrant Rights Clinic at New York University School of Law, who argued before the court today. “We are overjoyed that Mr. Khalil will finally be reunited with his family while we continue to fight his case in court.” “This is a joyous day for Mahmoud, for his family, and for everyone’s First Amendment rights,” said Noor Zafar, senior staff attorney with ACLU. “Since he was arrested in early March, the government has acted at every turn to punish Mahmoud for expressing his political beliefs about Palestine. But today’s ruling underscores a vital First Amendment principle: The government cannot abuse immigration law to punish speech it disfavors.” “It is an enormous relief that Palestinian human rights defender Mahmoud Khalil can return to New York while his case proceeds. Now, Mr. Khalil will thankfully be reunited with his wife and newborn — a bond that never should have been broken in the first place,” said Donna Lieberman, executive director at the NYCLU. “Ideas are not illegal, and no administration should ever incarcerate people for expressing opinions they disagree with. We are heartened and relieved that Mr. Khalil can return to his family, community, and counsel, and the NYCLU will continue to fight back against Trump’s unconstitutional attacks on free speech and dissent.” “We are relieved that Mr. Khalil can finally return to his family and community,” said Amol Sinha, executive director of the ACLU of New Jersey. “This is an important step in vindicating Mr. Khalil’s rights as he continues to be unlawfully targeted by the federal government for his advocacy in support of Palestinian rights. We’re confident he will ultimately prevail in the fight for his freedom.” “We are so relieved Mahmoud is finally out of his cruel, remote detention, but equally outraged that it took this long and that Mahmoud had to fight this hard to challenge such outrageous and unconstitutional government conduct,” said Baher Azmy, legal director of the Center for Constitutional Rights. “All Americans should be grateful that Mahmoud had the fortitude to defend basic first amendment principles – and his pursuit of justice for Palestinians – against the administration's autocratic tactics, which threaten us all.” “By ordering Mr. Khalil freed today, the court vindicates not only his rights but also recognized what has been plain to everyone, the government has detained Mr. Khalil to punish him for his speech in defense of Palestinians. We look forward to Mr. Khalil returning to his wife and son, as we pursue this fight in federal and immigration court for as long as it takes until justice is served,” said Ramzi Kassem, professor of law at the City University of New York and Co-Director of CLEAR, a legal non-profit and clinic. Mahmoud Khalil’s legal team has submitted multiple briefs and expert statements, and letters of support to the New Jersey court, outlining the irreparable harm he and others will continue to suffer as long as he remains illegally detained in Louisiana, thousands of miles away from his family. In addition, Mr. Khalil submitted his own declaration, factually disproving the government’s allegations and highlighting the fact that the government abandoned reliance on the so-called “misrepresentation” allegations in closing arguments in immigration court. The motion for release further explains that the court previously recognized that continued detention, based solely on the sorts of misrepresentations alleged by the government, is exceedingly rare and, the motion argued, is clearly only in further retaliation for his speech on Palestine. Mr. Khalil is represented by Dratel & Lewis, the Center for Constitutional Rights, CLEAR, Van Der Hout LLP, Washington Square Legal Services, the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU), the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the ACLU of New Jersey, and the ACLU of Louisiana. For more information on the case, please see here.

Vargas shares with the ACLU the common misconceptions about immigration and immigrants that he’s encountered through work with his nonprofit, Define America.

NEWARK, N.J. – Mahmoud Khalil’s legal team wrote the court today asking for his immediate release on bail, or, at a minimum, to order his return to New Jersey. The request comes after the government informed the court Friday that it would continue to detain Mr. Khalil in a remote facility in Jena, Louisiana, based on false and pretextual allegations connected with his green card application because a preliminary injunction that entered into effect Friday blocks his detention on purported foreign policy grounds. The federal judge overseeing his case, Michael E. Farbiarz, wrote Friday that, even though the government virtually never detains anyone on such “misrepresentation” charges, the court would not, at this point, prohibit the government from relying upon such pretextual and retaliatory allegations to continue Mr. Khalil’s detention. “The government is making desperate, last ditch attempts to keep my husband unjustly imprisoned,” said Dr. Noor Abdalla, Mahmoud Khalil’s wife. “We are not afraid and will not be intimidated, because we know, and the government knows, it is only a matter of time before Mahmoud is free. The American people are with us, and can see right through the government’s unjust attempts to delay his release. No matter what the government pulls, we will bring Mahmoud home safe.” “Because its outrageous attempt to detain Mahmoud based only on Secretary Rubio’s say-so has been struck down as unconstitutional, the government now stoops to a new low by doing what the federal court said the government virtually never does—detaining a U.S. permanent resident based on an alleged omission in an immigration application,” said Ramzi Kassem, co-director of CLEAR, at CUNY School of Law. “This only further proves Mahmoud’s claim that the government is retaliating against him for exercising his right to speak in defense of Palestinian rights and we won’t stop until he is free.” “Like it has for the past three months, the government is using all of the tools available to it to hinder justice for Mahmoud,” said Brett Max Kaufman, senior counsel in the ACLU’s Center for Democracy. “The government practically never holds people in detention on a charge like this, and it’s clear that the government is doing anything they can to punish Mahmoud for his speech about Palestine. We will not stop until he’s home with his family.” Today’s filing notes that Mr. Khalil is neither a flight risk nor a danger to anyone. It further explains that the court previously recognized that continued detention, based solely on the sorts of misrepresentations alleged by the government, is exceedingly rare and clearly only in further retaliation for his speech on Palestine. “This is just another cruel attempt by the government to punish Mahmoud for his protected speech,” said Marc Van Der Hout, founding partner at Van Der Hout LLP. “Detaining someone on a charge like this is highly unusual and, frankly, outrageous. The district court soundly and clearly rejected DHS’s attempt to deport Mahmoud for speaking out about the genocide in Gaza, and there continues to be no constitutional basis for his detention.” The government’s immigration case on the foreign policy grounds rested entirely on Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s foreign policy “determination,” which the federal court has now enjoined. The government later added the unfounded allegations that Mr. Khalil had not disclosed his previous employment and associations accurately on his green card application. Mr. Khalil’s legal team refuted those allegations with overwhelming evidence which the government did not even attempt to respond to. “This is a classic move from the government’s playbook: make false claims and delay, delay, delay,” said Amy Belsher, director of Immigrants’ Rights Litigation at the NYCLU. “There’s zero legitimate reason for Mahmoud Khalil to remain detained — it's clear that the government's outstanding charge is baseless and retaliatory. No more lies or dragging feet. Mahmoud must be released immediately to go home to his family and newborn son.” “The government’s decision to continue to detain Mahmoud on these patently false and pretextual charges is only more evidence of their cowardly vindictiveness toward him and their unrelenting desire to punish him for speaking out against them and their complicity in genocide,” said Baher Azmy, legal director of the Center for Constitutional Rights. Mr. Khalil is represented by Dratel & Lewis, the Center for Constitutional Rights, CLEAR, Van Der Hout LLP, Washington Square Legal Services, the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU), the ACLU of New Jersey, the ACLU of Louisiana, and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).