Sanctuary city lawyers caught in scheme to help migrants evade ICE
A group email revealed a scheme by Minneapolis-area lawyers to help illegal immigrants duck federal authorities.
The reported message went out to a private email list containing members of the Minnesota Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (MACDL) on February 6, says an anonymous member who spoke to Fox News. This message corresponds with the date Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison formally declared that the state’s law “prohibits state and local law enforcement agencies from holding someone based on an immigration detainer if the person would otherwise be released from custody.” This effectively means Minnesota would refuse to honor Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainers.
The subject line of one of the emails revealed the location of immigration authorities, reading “ICE at the PSF,” which may be referring to the Public Safety Facility.
“LRC just got word that plainclothes ICE officers have been spotted at the Hennepin County PSF today. Let’s do all we can to keep our clients safe in these difficult times,” the body of the email reads.
A flurry of responses ensued, with some of the lawyers suggesting they request online, or Zoom hearings, for their illegal clients to keep them safe from the authorities at the courthouses, once again helping them evade ICE.
“I was thinking we may want to have a conversation within the organization about pooling together [a]nd asking to convert hearings to [Z]oom for clients that we think would be targeted by ICE,” Ronnie Santana with Tamburino Law Group reportedly said, according to Fox.
JaneAnne Murray with Murray Law LLC revealed in the email thread that this tactic worked for her, saying she called up the court’s clerk directly to request the online accommodation.
“I explained the immigration circumstances and why I don’t want to lay them all out in a motion that may get reviewed by ICE. Shortly thereafter, I got an email authorizing my client to appear by [Z]oom (I must appear in person). Prosecutor was copied on the email but not consulted on the request.”
ACLU attorney Alicia Granse also spoke up, saying “Speaking of ICE… We at ACLU-MN are interested in protecting people from their presence at courthouses and at jails.”
“At minimum, no official should be holding someone based simply on an ICE detainer – they need a judicial warrant based on probable cause,” she explained. “If you have clients who have ICE holds and county officials or other law enforcement are honoring them, please email me… We might like to sue the crap out of them. Previous cases we got good settlements for people and there’s even a permanent injunction against Nobles County for holding someone for ICE.”
This action comes after a January Department of Homeland Security directive that rescinded the Biden-era order that prevents federal authorities from enforcing immigration law in “sensitive” locations.
“This action empowers the brave men and women in CBP and ICE to enforce our immigration laws and catch criminal aliens – including murderers and rapists – who have illegally come into our country. Criminals will no longer be able to hide in America’s schools and churches to avoid arrest,” a DHS spox said. “The Trump Administration will not tie the hands of our brave law enforcement, and instead trusts them to use common sense.”
“The Biden-Harris Administration abused the humanitarian parole program to indiscriminately allow 1.5 million migrants to enter our country. This was all stopped on day one of the Trump Administration. This action will return the humanitarian parole program to its original purpose of looking at migrants on a case-by-case basis.”
Posts
