Trump immigration team resumes cases once deportation

Ten years ago, Jesus Adan Rico sighed. At that time, Chino High School student, a dreamer, learned that an immigration judge had effectively put his deportation process aside. Maria Torres came to the United States at the age of 2 and her deportation lawsuit was suspended by an immigration judge for her recent marriage to a U.S. citizen.

However, just eight weeks ago, Adan Rico, 29, married a new child. Torres learned that the government wanted to bring her case back as she prepares for a green card interview.

“It doesn’t matter what we do, no matter how far we go at school, work and with our family. It’s all hanging by a thread,” he said.

Adan Rico and Torres are thousands of immigrants who surround their assumptions, who are exempt from detention and deportation. Now they face threats at the hands of the Department of Homeland Security, which gives new life to administratively closed cases to strengthen immigration enforcement.

Some lawyers have received dozens of motions, the first step to reopening old cases. If lawyers fail to successfully oppose these motions, then immigrants can return to the court that has become an arrest hub in recent months.

“It’s been ten years,” Adan Rico said. “Suddenly, our lives were put on hold again and these people thought I had no right to come here.”

When asked about the government’s efforts to initiate old litigation, Homeland Security spokesman Tricia McLaughlin refused to address questions about changes in government policies or respond to lawyers’ complaints about the process. She issued a statement similar to others she asked the media about immigration inquiries.

“Biden chose to release millions of illegal foreigners, including criminals, to the country and use prosecutors’ discretion to delay their cases indefinitely and allow them to stay in the United States illegally,” she said. “Now, President and Secretary Trump, Norm, is following the law and resuming the dismissal process for these illegal foreigners and ensuring that the judge hears their cases.”

Lawyers handling these proceedings say the government overwhelms courts and immigration lawyers by digging out cases, many of which are decades or older. In some of these, the client or their original attorney has passed away. In other cases, immigrants have gained legal status and are surprised to learn that the government is trying to resume deportation procedures against them.

Immigration judges have administratively closed deportation procedures since the 1970s to alleviate a large backlog on their docks and prioritize more urgent cases. The mobility basically delayed a case, but did not completely dismiss the case, giving the court and immigration swing room. The idea is that immigrants can pursue other forms of relief, such as hard abandonment or deferred status. The government can retry the case if needed.

Nationwide, immigration lawyers have received a series of requests from the Office of the Chief Legal Counsel of the Department of Homeland Security. The lawyers said the motions seemed linguistically similar, with a lack of analysis or reference to changes that prompted the decision. Trump administration lawyers argued in the motion that the target immigrants have not yet obtained a green card and therefore have no legal status to come here.

The motions urge immigration judges to use their discretion to restore the case and consider whether they have been detained or pending application “the possibility of end result or success.”

Distinguishing from cases in federal or state courts, attorneys and judges are both part of the executive branch, not part of the judicial branch. They answered Kristi Noem and Atty’s secretary. General Pam Bondi.

Attorneys and clients are competing for the clock to file objections to these motions. In essence, many have become private investigators, tracking clients they have never seen in years. Other retired lawyers are seeking other immigration lawyers to take over their client cases.

“The courts flooded these motions because we tried to boycott them,” said David L. Wilson, immigration attorney for the Minneapolis Wilson Law Group. He first received a batch of 25 government motions at the end of May, and then they would appear every few weeks. One case involved a client from El Salvador who was granted temporary protection status, which was administratively closed in 2006.

Adan Rico, a new father who is studying the HVAC technician of the Inland Empire, was shocked by the government’s pursuit of reviving the deportation process.

The lawyer who initially represented him died thereafter. “I would never have found out that my case had reopened if it weren’t for his daughter’s phone call,” he said. “DHS has never given me anything.”

Attorney Patricia M. Corrales spoke in April to the Los Angeles Humanitarian Rights Alliance.

(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)

His new attorney, Patricia Corrales, said the extension of Adan Rico’s childhood arrival status was not renewed until 2027 and that it violated the deportation process. But Corales, who received about a dozen motions, said it appears the government has not even checked whether individuals are alive, let alone their immigration status.

One of her cases was construction worker Helario Romero Arciniega. Seven years ago, a judge was severely beaten in an administratively closed deportation lawsuit (Romero Arciniega) by the head of a metal sprinkler device and was eligible for a visa for the victim of the crime.

This year, even as he died six months ago, government officials filed a motion to withdraw the deportation process for construction workers.

“They don’t do their homework,” Corrales said of government lawyers. “They are very negligent in the way they handle these motions.”

Some lawyers reported delays in their ability to file opposition motions because the court was overwhelmed.

When asked about the backlog, Kathryn Mattingly, a spokesman for the Federal Immigration Court, known as the “Immigration Administration Office”, confirmed that the court “must receive a basic initial motion before accepting the response to the motion.”

Now, some immigrants with legal barriers are only a few steps away from finalizing their green card applications.

Maria Torres, a resident of Los Angeles County and a mother of two, said she was only 2 years old when she was brought to the United States by her family. She grew up without a document and could apply work authorization when the extension action for the childhood arrival program was available.

But in 2019, at the age of 21, she was arrested on suspicion of misdemeanor DUI, which led to her deportation lawsuit. She went to class and paid the ticket. With her deportation lawsuit, she was able to seek a visa through her husband, a U.S. citizen, to close the case in 2022.

Her visa was approved, with only one interview appointment left, and when she received a call from the lawyer’s office, Torres was blinded, saying the government wanted to re-employ her deportation process.

“I just felt my heart sinking and I started crying,” she said. Her lawyers filed a motion to oppose the repositioning of the case, and they were waiting to hear a motion for how the judge would rule. Meanwhile, she hopes she will have a final interview with her approved visa before that, she said.

“People don’t get the right process,” said attorney Mariela Caravetta. “It’s very unfair to clients because these cases have been sleeping for 10 years.”

(Carlin Stiehl/Los Angeles Times)

Mariela Caravetta, an immigration attorney for Van Nuys, said her about 30 clients have been retried from her case with a government motion since early June.

By law, she must reply within 10 days. This means she has to track down clients who may have left the state.

“It’s done like this,” Karavita said.

“People don’t get the right process,” she said. “It’s very unfair to clients because these cases have been sleeping for 10 years.”

Caravetta convinced some judges to deny the government motion because clients are seeking a way to stay in the country legally. In rare cases, she is unable to attract customers.

She added that the government has not tried to contact lawyers to discuss the case. “It will save a lot of time for everyone,” she said. Her clients may have U-Visas, which can alleviate immigration who have been victims of crime and help investigators or prosecutors. But the government’s motion said: “These people did not do anything to legitimize their status and we need final resolution.”

Matt O’Brien, a former federal immigration judge and deputy executive director who advocates for stricter immigration laws, said the Trump administration “enforces the Immigration and Nationality Act in a way written by Congress.”

He questioned why the lawyer complained about the case being re-signed, saying: “It’s similar to a motion to re-examine the case in any other court.”

However, for many immigrants who are recovering from cases, the risks are high. Attorneys say the judge has a motion to retry the case at his discretion and in some cases do so. However, if no immigration or their lawyers object, the judge also approved the government’s request.

By then, the case was placed on the calendar. If arrangements are arranged and immigrants do not appear in court, they may eventually be ruled “absent”, which will leave them vulnerable to immediate deportation and prohibit them from entering the country legally for many years.

Many immigration lawyers and former officials say it all fits with the Trump administration’s goal of increasing the number of deportations.

“They are getting the largest crowd and evacuating them from the country,” said Jason Hauser, former director of immigration and customs enforcement. “This is hindering the legitimate process of the immigration system.”

In April, Sirce E. Owen, acting director of the Executive Office of Immigration Review, issued a memorandum criticizing the use of administrative closures, calling it a “de facto amnesty program with benefits” because it provides work mandates and deportation protection. Former immigration judge Owen has removed guidance from the former Biden administration, which provides a more proactive approach to administrative closure.

Irving said that as of April, the immigration court still administratively closed about 379,000 cases and used it as a contributor to the backlog of four million cases in the court system.

Attorneys have seen these cases before immigration judges in Immigration Courts in Los Angeles and San Diego. Many clients expressed shock and despair at being dragged back to the court.

Sherman Oaks lawyer Edgardo Quintanilla has had 40 recent cases, including ones dating back to the 2010s. He said clients were not only shocked by the government’s legal exercises, but also due to the prospect of entering the federal building these days.

“Always worried that they might get arrested when they go to court,” he said. “With everything happening, it’s a reasonable fear.”