On Monday, a Washington-based federal judge ordered the US government to release or give immediate hearings to over 1,000 immigrants seeking asylum. Some have been held in jail for months or in some instances, years, with no individual reviews of their cases.
US District Judge, James E. Boasberg, accused Immigration and Customs Enforcement of ignoring its own policy. It states that applicants for asylum who have a credible fear of returning to their home nation because of persecution should receive a court hearing within seven days or be released. Boasberg gave a preliminary injunction, preventing five government field offices from performing blanket detentions of immigrant asylum seekers, including those currently in custody, until resolution of the lawsuit.
In March, several groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), sued after discovering a 96% surge in detention rates in those offices in the first eight months of the Trump Presidency last year, a rise of just under 10% from previous figures in 2013. The ACLU claims that the mass detention of immigrant refugees is the result of policies promoted by the President and Attorney General Jeff Sessions with the intent of deterring immigrants from claiming asylum.
Boasberg’s 38-page opinion states that he does nothing other than expect the government to be accountable to its own policies and that Immigration and Customs Enforcement needs to ensure the realization of the stated protections.
