PLANE TO PURGATORY: HOW TRUMP’S DEPORTATION PROGRAM SHUTTLES IMMIGRANTS INTO LAWLESS LIMBO
The US has always moved immigrants around – most commonly, when a detention center reaches capacity, officials transfer detainees to facilities with more available beds. But the Trump administration is now shuffling immigrants around more frequently than before.
In some cases, lawyers believe that the government is deliberately moving their clients to jurisdictions where immigration judges are less likely to grant asylum, or where legal injunctions blocking Trump immigration policies do not apply.
DHS said that immigrants in custody are informed about their transfers and allowed to contact their families throughout. “Claims that transfers of detainees are being ‘weaponized’ or ‘hidden’ are also categorically false,” said Tricia McLaughlin, the DHS assistant secretary for public affairs.
“Despite a historic number of injunctions, DHS is working rapidly and overtime to remove these aliens from detention centers to their final destination – home,” McLaughlin said. “All transfers are made in accordance with strict guidelines.”
According to protocols established in 2012, Ice is supposed to minimize long-distance transfers, and generally avoid moving detainees away from their immediate family and attorneys. The American Immigration Council and Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network (RMIAN) have filed a lawsuit to determine whether Ice is adhering to those policies, or whether transfer rules have been changed.
For immigrants in the system, these chaotic transfers can feel like a punishment, designed to wear people down, said Faisal Al-Juburi, head of external affairs at the legal aid group Raíces.
“You end up in a continuous state of unknown for an indefinite period of time,” he said. “Families are being put into a purgatorial state.”
