For immediate release
Attorneys File Federal Lawsuit; Community Advocates and Local Elected Official Announce ‘No-Cooperation’ in ICE Raids
ICE’s announcement that it will not provide attorney access to detained individuals during its planned operations this Sunday have prompted a federal lawsuit from lawyers. The lawsuit seeks to stop ICE from denying access to counsel to Bay Area residents.
Community advocates and SF Supervisor Hillary Ronen call on public officials, employees, and private companies to not facilitate ICE raids in circumvention of due process and people’s right to counsel.
July 13, 2019
Northern California - ACLU attorneys have filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of Pangea Legal Services and other pro bono attorneys seeking access to clients during scheduled ICE raids. With the lawsuit pending, advocates are on high alert and are taking steps to ensure that ICE does not circumvent legal protections through unauthorized detention space. This would not be the first time that ICE has sought additional detention space in California to skirt Sanctuary Laws, which have limited and reduced bed space at inhumane ICE facilities. Previously ICE has utilized airports, hotels, and private parking lots to detain individuals away from public accountability and access to lawyers. Already, local unions and hotel companies have announced a policy of no-cooperation in ICE’s planned raids as a result. Likewise cities across the Bay Area have affirmed that no city agency or employee will cooperate with the planned enforcement action.
“In the city of San Francisco, a city of refuge, which has historically protected immigrants, and allocated funding for immigrant defense, it is deeply concerning that ICE would violate the rights of individuals to an attorney and due process through politically motivated raids,” said Hillary Ronen, San Francisco Supervisor for District 9. “My office stands with the immigrant community and calls on public officials and private companies alike to protect the rights of immigrants by refusing to cooperate in any way with ICE’s policies of family separation.”
Community advocates, unions, Rapid Response Networks, and elected officials, including Supervisor Ronen, are holding a press conference on Saturday, July 13, at 2PM at the San Francisco International Airport. The press conference will inform the immigrant community of available legal resources, hotlines to report ICE activity, and that city employees including employees at the San Francisco International Airport will not provide detention space or special accommodations for ICE. Advocates call upon other airports, as well as public and private entities to no cooperate with ICE.
“It is deeply concerning that ICE is violating people’s right to an attorney by conducting weekend operations and seeking detention space outside of normal processing centers,” said Luis Angel Reyes Savalza, immigration attorney at Pangea Legal Services, and named Plaintiff in the federal lawsuit. “If ICE is incapable of providing basic constitutional safeguards, then ICE has no business conducting unlawful operations, and we will make sure that they don’t.”
Who: “Power, Not Panic” Emergency Action Committee
Where: San Francisco International Airport - “International Garage G”
Time: Saturday July 13, 2019, 2PM
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