LGBT Immigrants Detained More Often by ICE

Back in 2014, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a memorandum that established certain priorities for all immigration enforcement, including deportation. More specifically, DHS announced its intention to direct its resources toward removing immigrants that constituted a threat to public safety, national security, and border security, rather than on immigrants without legal status who have lived in the U.S. for years without committing any crimes. Likewise, DHS indicated that certain categories of vulnerable people should not be detained unless they were subject to mandatory detention or other extraordinary circumstances. Historically, DHS has classified lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) immigrants as one of those especially vulnerable populations. Nonetheless, data that the Center for American Progress obtained from DHS indicates that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents opted to detain a greater number of LGBT immigrants in 2015 than in the year prior to the announcement of the new areas of focus by DHS, thus effectively ignoring those articulated priorities. In 2014, ICE detained 75% of all LGBT immigrants who expressed fear of detention based on their LGBT status, and released 25% on community supervision. However, in 2015, ICE detained 90% of all of these LGBT immigrants, and released only 10% on community supervision. ICE makes detention determinations using a Risk Classification Assessment (RCA), which is a tool that takes into account DHS priorities. According to ICE, the RCA should not recommend the detention of immigrants who have a special vulnerability and are not subject to mandatory detention. The prevailing DHS policy is that immigrants with a special vulnerability should generally be released until their hearings on community supervision, and that ICE supervisors are required to justify any decision to detain these individuals. Nonetheless, a 2015 report from the DHS Office of Inspector General showed that in 2012 and 2013, the RCA tool often failed to identify immigrants as especially vulnerable, and even when the tool did identify these individuals, ICE officers frequently overrode these recommendations. At Landerholm Immigration, A.P.C., we care about you and your family, and want to help you preserve your home in the United States. We focus our law practice solely on deportation defense cases, which allows us to expend all of our efforts in standing up for the rights of those who are facing potential deportation. Our California deportation defense lawyers know how to gather persuasive evidence to support your case and we know all of the procedural ins and outs of the U.S. deportation system. Allow us to handle your deportation case by contacting us today to schedule your legal consultation.