Miami, Florida (EFE).- Several social organizations presented this Thursday a lawsuit against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) of the United States in which denounce the difficulty of detainees in four centers in the country to access legal advice.
The deputy legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) in Florida, Katie Blankenship, said in a statement that ICE detention centers are known “for their terrible conditions and lack of access to legal representation”which is why the lawsuit is filed.
Blankenship pointed out that this situation leaves people arrested at a disadvantage and drastically increases “the likelihood that abusive or inhumane conditions will go unchecked” inside detention centers.
Specifically, the complaint is directed against detention centers from ICE in the states of Florida, Louisiana, Texas and Arizona.
It details, in particular, the assumptions obstacles faced by lawyers when attempting to communicate with detainees at the Krome Services Processing Center in Miami, Florida, including limiting private and confidential calls to legal representatives.
The hardship list adds limitations on in-person visits and barriers to arranging translation services, all of which negatively impact legal representation.
“It is crucial that people detained by ICE are able to exercise their right to legal representation and advocate for their safe release to their communities and families in the United States.”Blankenship said.
Research shows, according to the ACLU, that people detained with legal representation have nearly seven times more likely to be released and ten times more of winning their cases of immigration than those that do not have it.
However, at the Florence Correctional Center in Arizona, the Krome Services Processing Center in Florida, the Laredo Processing Center in Texas, and the River Correctional Center in Ferriday, Louisiana, attorneys encountered obstacles in making his work.
“We know that access to a lawyer leads to freedom, safety and reunification with loved ones for so many people in immigration detention”said Shalyn Fluharty, executive director of Americans for Immigrant Justice.
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The lawsuit was filed jointly by the ACLU, the American Immigration Council, the Florence Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project (FIRRP), the Immigration Justice Campaign for the American Immigration Council (IJC), and Immigration Services. Immigration and Legal Defense (ISLA), among many other organizations. EFE
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