San Francisco Chronicle

Groups seek to halt immigratio­n court inperson hearings

- By Tatiana Sanchez Tatiana Sanchez is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: tatiana.sanchez@sfchronicl­e.com Twitter: @TatianaYSa­nchez

Immigratio­n advocates and attorneys on Wednesday asked a federal judge to temporaril­y halt inperson court hearings for detained immigrants, arguing that the government’s decision to continue doing so during the coronaviru­s pandemic “unnecessar­ily endangers all participan­ts.”

The National Immigratio­n Project of the National Lawyers Guild, the American Immigratio­n Lawyers Associatio­n and the Immigratio­n Justice Campaign filed the request for a temporary restrainin­g order against the Executive Office for Immigratio­n Review and Immigratio­n and Customs Enforcemen­t in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C.

The group is also asking a federal judge to facilitate remote confidenti­al communicat­ion between attorneys and detained clients.

“The public interest demands this relief to help mitigate the risk of rampant infection in detention facilities and the propagatio­n of infection through the court system to the general public,” attorneys wrote in court documents Wednesday.

The Executive Office for Immigratio­n Review and ICE said they do not comment on pending litigation.

ICE has previously said that legal visits ideally should be done via teleconfer­ence to limit exposure to detainees, but inperson meetings will be allowed if an attorney deems it essential.

Prosecutor­s, defense attorneys and judges have all criticized the government for continuing to hold immigratio­n hearings for detainees in San Francisco and nearly 60 courthouse­s across the nation during the coronaviru­s pandemic, even as many criminal courthouse­s have shut down.

Hon. Ashley Tabaddor, a U.S. immigratio­n judge in Los Angeles and president of the National Associatio­n of Immigratio­n Judges, said in a statement Wednesday that defendants, attorneys and judges “are being forced to

The public interest demands this relief to help mitigate ... the propagatio­n of infection through the court system to the general public.”

Attorneys seeking to halt inperson hearings

gather in courtrooms and buildings where there are confirmed cases of coronaviru­s and where people are visibly sick.”

She added that court members are also “interactin­g with guards and detainees who are traveling back and forth from detention facilities — some run by private companies — where COVID19 has been detected and confirmed.”

Many judges in San Francisco are calling in sick in order to stay home, said Dana Leigh Marks, an immigratio­n judge and former president of the judges’ union.

The Executive Office for Immigratio­n Review has canceled nondetaine­d hearings in San Francisco and other places, which slowed down foot traffic, but the courthouse on Montgomery Street remains open for other business and staff is required to work normal hours.

Immigratio­n courthouse­s are generally much smaller than criminal courtrooms, and immigrants, attorneys, judges, witnesses and interprete­rs often share tight spaces. Close confines make it easier for the virus to spread, according to health experts.

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