ACLU SUES TRUMP OVER GITMO MIGRANT DETAINEES’ ACCESS TO ATTORNEYS
The Trump administration is violating the constitutional rights of migrant detainees at Guantanamo Bay by denying them access to lawyers, the American Civil Liberties Union said in a lawsuit filed Wednesday.
The suit, filed in federal court in Washington, D.C, seeks a court order requiring the administration to give attorneys in-person access to the detainees as soon as possible and immediate video and telephone access in the interim. It argues that the detainees’ lack of access to attorneys violates their legal right to counsel, and that legal organizations have their own First Amendment right to meet with migrants held at the naval base in Cuba.
The lawsuit is the latest challenge to President Donald Trump’s plan to turn Guantanamo Bay into a massive immigration detention facility. Last month, he ordered the construction of additional detention space there for 30,000 undocumented immigrants with criminal records. In the days since, more than three dozen immigrants have been flown to the naval base, but their names, as well as any criminal allegations or convictions on their records, remain unknown.
The ACLU brought the suit on behalf of family members of Gitmo detainees who want them to have access to attorneys, as well as four legal organizations — Las Americas, RAICES, American Gateways and Americans for Immigrant Justice — who want to offer representation. They argue they have legal standing to bring the suit since the detainees cannot bring the suit themselves.
