ACLU suit claims coordinated immigrant deportation ‘trap’ campaign

BOSTON — Federal immigration agencies were accused of conducting a coordinated campaign to arrest and deport people seeking to become legal U.S. residents through marriage in court documents released this week that were submitted in a class-action lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union.

The documents, which include depositions and correspondence from federal officials, show the extent to which officials for the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services have been coordinating with their counterparts at Immigration and Customs Enforcement to facilitate arrests at citizenship offices in New England.

The ACLU, in its arguments, criticizes the efforts as a deportation “trap” that violates the constitutional rights of immigrants otherwise following the rules to become legal residents.

“The government created this path for them to seek a green card,” Matthew Segal, legal director for the ACLU of Massachusetts, said in an interview Tuesday. “The government can’t create that path and then arrest folks for following that path.”

An Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency spokesman responded that allegations of “inappropriate coordination” between the two agencies are “unfounded.”

“This routine coordination within the Department of Homeland Security, not unlike the cooperative efforts we maintain with many other federal partners, is lawful and legitimate,” John Mohan said by email.