“Require biometrics, refuse to collect them, then punish people for the gap you created,” Michelle Mendez of the National Immigration Projectsaid. “That’s not administration; that’s a trap. A deliberately broken process they’re now citing as proof that people eligible for benefits and protections deserve to be deported. We’re asking the court to see this scheme for exactly what it is.”
A group of detained immigrants has filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration, claiming a new Department of Homeland Security rule could permanently prevent them from obtaining legal status or updating existing visas.
The proposed class-action lawsuit was filed earlier this week in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. It argues that the Department of Homeland Security has, in effect, created a system that “requires individuals to submit biometrics as part of their applications for immigration relief, while simultaneously refusing to collect that information from people in detention centers.”
The detained plaintiffs are being represented by attorneys from Democracy Forward, the National Immigration Project, and the National Immigration Justice Center.
“As a result,” Democracy Forward said in a press release, “eligible individuals are denied the opportunity to pursue lawful immigration status, including pathways available to survivors of human trafficking, abused and abandoned children, and those seeking to reunite with family members.
Skye Perryman, the president and CEO of Democracy Forward, characterized the biometrics policy as a “new trap” that makes it borderline impossible for immigration detainees to obtain any effective form of relief.
“In its zeal to block paths for lawful immigration, the Trump-Vance administration has yet again set up an unlawful trap for noncitizens, creating a system where people are required to meet a condition for relief and then blocking them from ever meeting it,” Perryman said in a press release. “This policy is as unlawful as it is cruel – it strips people of their legal rights, shuts down pathways to safety and stability, and fast-tracks deportation without due process. Courts exist for moments like this. We are asking the court to restore access to legal protections Congress guaranteed.”
The lawsuit argues that, if the Trump administration is allowed to continue enforcing the policy, many immigrants who would otherwise be eligible for release will be prevented from exercising their legal rights.
“Without this Court’s intervention, Plaintiffs and the class will face irreparable harm,” the lawsuit alleges. “They will lose their right to pursue lawful immigration status before being deported, and some will face prolonged detention when relief would have otherwise led to their release.”
Michelle Mendez of the National Immigration Project indicated that the Trump administration almost certainly knows what it’s doing, and how its actions will likely harm immigrants.
“The government didn’t stumble into this outcome,” Mendez said in Democracy Forward’s press release. “They engineered it.”
“Require biometrics, refuse to collect them, then punish people for the gap you created,” she said. “That’s not administration; that’s a trap. A deliberately broken process they’re now citing as proof that people eligible for benefits and protections deserve to be deported. We’re asking the court to see this scheme for exactly what it is.”
Sources
Detained Immigrants Challenge Trump-Vance Policy that Forces Automatic Denial of Applications
Immigrants File Suit Over Trump’s Catch-22 Biometric Data Policy
Immigrants sue over Trump administration biometric data policy
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