CONCORD — Immigrants navigating the justice system are falling sufferer to a federal marketing campaign of concern mongering and misinformation in an assault on due course of that has already scared tons of, if not 1000’s, of individuals out of the courts, advocates say.
Immigration courts throughout the Bay Space, together with in Harmony, are overseen by the U.S. Division of Justice, which critics say has stoked fears of neutrality as federal officers have overtly supported efforts to develop immigration enforcement throughout the govt department.
Because of the unfold of misinformation and concern, solely a fraction of immigrants have proven up for his or her scheduled hearings in current months, in accordance with Sean Lai McMahon, an lawyer representing the California Collaborative for Immigrant Justice. Not too long ago, out of the 20 to 30 individuals scheduled for a every day docket, he estimated that solely 10% usually seem.
When these essential court docket dates are missed, he stated, deportation orders are triggered robotically – a course of that will completely bar immigrants from returning to the USA, no matter their case to win asylum or another type of authorized standing.
“This is a massive change that’s happened in just the past couple of months due to the policy changes by the Trump administration,” McMahon stated outdoors the Harmony Immigration Courtroom on Thursday morning. “People are afraid to access their day in court, rather than go through with their legal process and possibly get a status that would allow them to stay in the United States with their families and be safe.”
McMahon was joined Thursday by a number of native attorneys, immigration advocates, spiritual leaders and different group members outdoors the Harmony court docket on Gateway Boulevard, which opened in February 2024.
Regardless of no reviews that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers have performed operations or arrests on the Harmony courthouse, he stated the administration has despatched mass emails to immigrants, which incorrectly declare that their parole has been revoked they usually should self deport inside seven days.
A number of attorneys additionally reported seeing flyers posted contained in the Harmony Immigration Courtroom that publicize legally incorrect details about self-deportation, together with claims that the federal government can pay $1,000 to immigrants who voluntarily relocate, in addition to protect their proper to use for authorized standing.
Furthermore, McMahon stated some judges have issued notices to immigrants with out authorized illustration that their asylum functions will probably be rejected until they’ll independently comply with extraordinarily detailed, troublesome court docket procedures. In contrast to prison court docket, individuals dealing with immigration proceedings usually are not assured the proper to an appointed lawyer.
“As a part of due process, you have the right to have been heard by a neutral decision maker, but the immigration court is not an independent court,” McMahon stated, clarifying that everybody has these rights, no matter citizenship standing. “Every day, we’re swamped with calls from people who believe they’ll be arrested at the court — that they’ll be separated from their children — which is not true.”
Sergio Lopez, a volunteer coordinator for Welcome Navigators, intimately understands how hectic and terrifying the justice system could be for immigrants. Reflecting on his expertise searching for asylum from Nicaragua in 2019, together with six months in detention, the 38-year-old stated serving to to supply a pleasant face is the least he can do to assist the immigrant group get the identical help he did.
“Court is extremely hard to navigate, especially in a country where everything is new,” Lopez stated. “We try to not just give information, but also smile at people — make sure they are feeling some sort of welcome.”
Kate Mahoney, a senior workers lawyer with the Immigrant Authorized Useful resource Middle who has labored within the area for almost 20 years, stated immigration court docket has lengthy been in comparison with “hearing death penalty cases in a traffic court setting.”
Nonetheless, she stated the federal authorities’s current assault on immigrants’ authorized rights is unprecedented.
She lambasted the Trump administration’s makes an attempt to chop funding to authorized assets, data and applications for immigrants — who usually lack authorized illustration — whereas de-prioritizing efforts to prosecute company wrongdoing or different white-collar crimes.
“The court is completely abandoning its duty of neutrality and instead becoming the prosecutor,” Mahoney stated. “To be clear, our immigration courts have never lived up to these values, but right now, the minimal guardrails are failing.”
