New York Daily News

Advocates sue to block immig raids

- BY DAVE GOLDINER

Immigrant advocates sued Thursday to block President Trump’s threatened roundup of thousands of undocument­ed families this weekend.

The White House insists the raids — the same that Trump scrapped last month — will target immigrant families that have already been given deportatio­n orders.

But the ACLU says many of them have never had a day in court due to massive bureaucrat­ic bungling.

“The Trump administra­tion’s threats against immigrants run roughshod over basic fairness and due process,” said Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union. “We will fight to ensure no one faces this kind of peril without having their case considered in court.”

The suit was filed in Manhattan Federal Court on behalf of refugees from Central America, many of whom say they have tried without success to get hearings.

It demands that anyone detained be granted a hearing before being deported.

Many refugees say they were ordered deported after not being notified of hearings or told to show up at the wrong locations or on days that don’t exist, like Sept. 31.

New York Attorney General Letitia James denounced the planned raids and vowed the state would not cooperate with Immigratio­n and Customs Enforcemen­t agents.

“The Trump administra­tion’s insistence on using migrant families as a political bargaining chip with congressio­nal leaders is as deplorable as it is un-American,” she said.

Trump had made a similar threat to round up immigrant families last month. He reportedly revived the plan after his deadline for Democrats to “solve” immigratio­n woes predictabl­y went nowhere.

The latest crackdown is now set for Sunday, Homeland Security officials told CNN and the New York Times. Trump often issues such threats of drastic actions on a variety of pet issues only to modify or reverse them at the last minute.

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