Source : NEW INDIAN EXPRESS NEWS
Government calls deportees ‘true national security threats’
The migrants’ home countries — Cuba, Laos, Mexico, Myanmar, Vietnam and South Sudan — would not take them back, according to Todd Lyons, the acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, who spoke to reporters in Washington. He later said the migrants either came from countries that often do not take back all their deported citizens or had other situations that meant they could not be sent home.
“These represent the true national security threats,” Lyons said at a news conference. Behind him was a display of photos of men he said had been convicted of rape, homicide, armed robbery and other crimes.
Administration officials, who have repeatedly clashed with the courts over their attempts to deport large numbers of immigrants, made their displeasure clear Wednesday.
President Donald Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem “are working every single day to get these vicious criminals off of American streets — and while activist judges are on the other side, fighting to get them back onto the United States soil,” said Tricia McLaughlin, a department spokesperson. She pointed to the photographs and described them as “the monsters” that Murphy “is trying to protect.”
Homeland Security officials released few specific details about the deportation flight. They said it left Tuesday with eight people on board and said they remained in the department’s custody Wednesday. Officials said they could not disclose the migrants’ final destination because of “safety and operational security.”
The case comes amid a sweeping immigration crackdown by the Republican administration, which has pledged to deport millions of people who are living in the United States illegally. The legal fight is the latest flashpoint as the administration rails against judges whose rulings have slowed the president’s policies.
Lawsuits on immigration issues are everywhere
With Congress largely silent or supportive, opponents of Trump’s agenda have filed hundreds of lawsuits and judges have issued dozens of orders against the administration.
Immigration has been the most contentious issue.
There was the mistaken deportation of an immigrant who was living in Maryland to a prison in El Salvador, as well as Trump’s push to swiftly deport alleged Venezuelan gang members without a court review.
The administration officials insisted that the deported men had received due process, but did not provide details. Immigration-rights attorneys argue they violated Murphy’s order, first handed down in March, that says people must have a chance to argue that going somewhere outside their homeland would put them in danger before being deported, even if they’ve otherwise exhausted their legal appeals.
“The government is still refusing to provide due process to our clients, which means they are not giving them notice of the country to which they’re being deported, proper notice in a language that they understand, and not giving them a meaningful opportunity to claim fear based on those countries,” Trina Realmuto, the executive director of the National Immigration Litigation Alliance, said outside court.
“These are countries that the State Department doesn’t want Americans to travel to. They are categorically not safe,” she added.
In court, Realmuto asked the judge to return the individuals to the United States. “They are no less deserving of protection than any other human beings on this planet,” she said.
The government argued the interviews with the men over their fears could be done where they are currently being held and confirmed with Murphy that they can be arranged. Realmuto called this a “logistical nightmare” that penalizes the men because the government violated the judge’s order.
She said it would prove a challenge to get the men legal counsel and interpreters, an effort complicated by the time difference.
Murphy, who raised the prospect of criminal contempt for anyone “involved in an illegal deportation,” later Wednesday ordered the government conduct a new set of interviews with the migrants if an appropriate place with appropriate privacy can be found. He said the government was welcome to bring the migrants back, but did not order they do so.
On Twitter late Wednesday, DHS’ McLaughlin called the order “deranged.”
SOURCE :- NEW INDIAN EXPRESS
