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Why is Immigration & Customs Enforcement Still Fighting For Its Runaway Detainer Regime?
Ada Morales, a long-time resident of Rhode Island, became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1995. Yet in 2009, when she was arrested by Rhode Island authorities for an unrelated state charge, Immigration and Customs Enforcement issued an immigration hold, or "detainer," against her. Explaining that an "investigation had been initiated" to determine her immigration status, ICE asked the Rhode Island authorities to keep her in jail even after her local custody ended.
For U.S. Citizen Caught in Immigration Web, a Step Towards Justice
Should a mother have to spend the night in a jail cell – with no warrant, no probable cause, and no opportunity to contest her detention – just because the feds want to investigate her immigration status? We think the answer is clearly no. Wednesday the federal district court in Rhode Island agreed, issuing an important decision in the case of Ada Morales, a U.S. citizen who has been unlawfully jailed by Rhode Island authorities on two separate occasions based on invalid immigration detainers.