Immigration hearings begin en masse

SAN DIEGO: The judge has called the court into session, and the accused enter in single file: seven men and two women, undocumented migrants captured the day before and now facing one of the mass immigration hearings that began this week in California.

The group hearings have become a near-necessity as President Donald Trump’s “zero tolerance” policy against illegal immigration has led to an overwhelming number of cases.

Other states bordering Mexico have employed this legal model since 2005, but California had resisted, only acquiescing when the caseload became unmanageable.

The defendants, seated side by side, are wearing the clothes they were arrested in. Their faces reflect the deep fatigue of people who have not slept or eaten well, coupled with the weary resignation of those who know that, after all their struggles to reach the US, they are about to be deported.

Their lawyers were able to meet with them only hours before the hearing to explain that this is a criminal, not an immigration, court and that the charges they face could bring sentences of up to six months in prison.

Prosecutors tell them that if they plead guilty, they can escape jail – but will be deported immediately. But lawyers and immigration activists decry the approach, saying the sentences being handed down leave the immigrants with the stain of a permanent criminal record.

That will weigh heavily against them if they seek a visa in the future – or even request asylum. — AFP