Statement regarding US policy on removal/deportation of immigrant women and children

SUMMARY

City Bar President Debra L. Raskin issued a statement expressing “grave concern” over recent home raids by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) targeting mothers and children who have come to the United States from Central America since last summer. Many of these families fled gang violence or domestic violence and have meritorious claims to asylum; however, many of them have been ordered removed in fast-tracked proceedings that lacked critical elements of due process, such as access to counsel and sufficient time to collect evidence. The City Bar urges the Obama administration to take a number of steps, including: discontinuing the practice of conducting home raids that target mothers and children; providing families in detention with access to effective counsel; staying the removal of mothers and children until they have had a full and fair opportunity to present claims for relief; releasing families from detention pending resolution of their claims; reopening removal proceedings for individuals who were not represented during their prior proceedings or faced other due process violations; and designating Guatemala and re-designating El Salvador and Honduras for Temporary Protected Status in light of the heightened gang violence in those countries.