Migrants Were Told to Sign Away Right to Enter U.S., Lawyers Say

[Truth_hurts]

Since President Trump closed the country to people from seven predominantly Muslim countries, immigration agents have wrongly told some travelers arriving legally that they must sign documents forfeiting their right to enter, according to immigration lawyers and migrants.

 

Some people — it is not clear how many — holding valid visas signed the forms and were sent away, they say; others refused to sign, were detained and were allowed to enter the United States after hours or days in custody. Lawyers for those migrants asserted that some immigration agents did not explain the documents that travelers were being told to sign and threatened them, without any legal basis, with being barred from the country for years if they did not comply.

 

The people affected are from countries whose citizens are barred for 90 days from travel to the United States, under an executive order Mr. Trump signed on Friday: Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. The president said the nation needed tougher screening to prevent infiltration by Islamist terrorists.

 

Immigrant advocates obtained court orders blocking implementation of parts of that order. But lawyers who flocked to a number of airports to represent migrants said United States Customs and Border Protection agents there repeatedly resorted to coercion and deception to deny entry.

 

The Department of Homeland Security, which includes Customs and Border Protection, said it could not comment on matters under litigation. It referred questions about airport procedures to the customs agency, which did not respond to requests for comment.

 

“They were told falsely that there would be all these negative consequences if they chose not to sign the forms in front of them, like being barred from coming back for five years,†said Simon Y. Sandoval-Moshenberg of the Legal Aid Justice Center, one of the lawyers who filed the suit.

 

Administration officials at first said even legal permanent residents of the United States could not return, but later said they could. There is still confusion about whether the order applies to people with temporary visas.

 

“They want you to sign so they can say they didn’t deport you, you left voluntarily,†said Becca Heller, director of the International Refugee Assistance Project, one of the groups that obtained a court order.

 

“One of the plaintiffs in our lawsuit, they kept telling one of them, ‘Just sign this and you can go,’ and he didn’t know what it was because he only spoke Arabic,†she said. The man refused to sign, and was later released.

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/30/us/migrants-documents-travel-ban.html?smid=re-share&referer=https://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/5r65zq/migrants_were_told_to_sign_away_right_to_enter_us/

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National Immigration Law Center

 

What to Do if You Are Arrested or Detained by Immigration

 

IMMIGRANTS WHO ARE ARRESTED OR DETAINED by Immigration have certain rights. These rights change, however, if you are arrested or detained at the border or in an airport. In these cases, you may have fewer rights. You probably have more rights if you are arrested by Immigration at work, on the street, after a traffic stop, or at home. If you are arrested and detained, it is important that you keep calm, and remember the following things:

 

You have the right to remain silent. You should ask to speak to a lawyer.

 

Do not sign anything without first talking to a lawyer. You may be signing away your right to see a lawyer or a judge.

 

Write down the name and telephone number of the deportation officer assigned to your case.

 

Do not take “voluntary departure†(that is, do not agree to leave the United States) without first talking to a lawyer.

 

Signing a voluntary departure agreement means that you won’t get a hearing, you will have to leave the U.S., and you may never be allowed to enter the U.S. again or get legal immigration status.

 

Do not sign “stipulated orders of removal†without first talking to a lawyer. Signing a stipulated order means that you waive your rights to a hearing before a judge and serves as a final order of removal (deportation) signed by the judge.

 

Do not expect Immigration agents or the judge to explain your options, or to give you the right information. Wait to speak with a lawyer before saying or doing anything.

 

You have the right to call an attorney or your family if you are detained. You have the right to be visited by an attorney in detention (Immigration jail).

 

You have the right to a lawyer, but the government will not pay for or provide that lawyer. You must hire one or find someone who will represent you for free.

 

(Immigration should give you a list of groups you can call that may provide free or low-cost legal advice or representation.) If you see a judge before you can get legal advice, you should ask the judge for more time to find a lawyer.

 

You have the right to contact your consulate. Telephone numbers to your consulate are posted in the jail or you can ask the deportation officer for a list. Your Consul may help you obtain a lawyer.

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When you get a lawyer, you should tell the lawyer everything you think is important about your immigration case, including whether you have ever been arrested for a crime. It is important that anyone giving you legal advice knows everything about your case so that she or he can give you the best advice. It does not pay to lie or keep information from your lawyer.

 

If you think that your boss reported you to Immigration because you complained about your working conditions, make sure to tell the lawyer this fact. If your boss did report you for this reason, you might be able to bring an official complaint against him or her.

 

In most cases, Immigration must decide within 48 hours whether to put you into immigration proceedings (in front of a judge), and whether to keep you in custody or to release you on bond. After 72 hours, Immigration must give you a Notice to Appear (NTA). This is the notice that provides you with the information about your hearing before an Immigration Judge.

 

In most cases, you have the right to ask to be released from detention by paying a bond, or to ask for a bond hearing in front of a judge. (Bond is an amount of money paid to the government to guarantee that you will attend future court hearings.) The judge, though, may order that you stay in detention if the judge decides that you might not show up for your court hearing or that you are dangerous to others.

 

If you have to leave the U.S., try to speak with an immigration lawyer before leaving. If you leave, you may not be allowed to come back into the country for a certain number of years. It is important you know this before you leave, because if you come back earlier than you’re allowed to, you can be arrested for having committed a serious crime.

 

If you are afraid to return to your home country, notify your deportation officer and the court immediately. You may be eligible to file a claim for asylum or other relief.

 

If you have been convicted of any criminal offenses, it is extremely important to contact an immigration lawyer that is experienced in matters involving immigration consequences of criminal convictions. If you have a criminal record/conviction, get a copy of your certified transcript from the criminal court.

 

If you are not given a hearing before an immigration judge, find out why and let your lawyer know immediately.

 

https://www.nilc.org/get-involved/community-education-resources/know-your-rights/to_do_if_arrested_2007-08/

[Truth_hurts]

Immigration officials coerced Yemenis to sign away green cards, suit claims

 

Brothers were detained and forced to sign papers revoking US residency ‘they neither read nor understood’ and placed on flight back to Ethiopia, lawyers say

 

 

Two Yemeni brothers detained by US immigration officials on Saturday were unlawfully coerced into relinquishing their green cards and forced to return to Ethiopia just hours after Donald Trump signed an executive order banning travel from seven Muslim majority countries, a lawsuit has claimed.

 

Tareq Aziz, 21, and Ammar Aziz, 19, were handcuffed, detained and “forced to sign papers that they neither read nor understood†and then placed on a flight back to Addis Ababa hours after arriving at Dulles international airport in Virginia on Saturday morning, lawyers contend. The brothers were en route to Michigan to reunite with their father, Aqel Aziz, a US citizen based in Flint.

 

Both had been granted permanent residency after applying for green cards at the US embassy in Djibouti, the East African nation to where tens of thousands of Yemenis have fled during the country’s bloody civil war.

 

The Aziz brothers, the lawsuit claims, were on Saturday forced to sign an I-407 form, which abandoned their claims to lawful permanent residency in the United States, by Customs and Border Protection who falsely claimed that if they did not sign the form they would be barred from entering the United States for five years.

 

The lawsuit suggests that up to 60 other individuals with permanent residency in the United States may have been unlawfully coerced into signing the forms while detained in US airports as well. Trump has said 109 people were detained in total as a result of the order.

 

The brothers signed the forms and were removed from the country just hours before a federal judge in Brooklyn placed a nationwide stay on deportations for people who arrived in the US with valid visas but were prevented from clearing customs after Trump’s order.

 

Signed on Friday, Trump’s executive order denies refugees, immigrants and travelers from certain Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen, entry to the United States, and indefinitely closes US borders to refugees fleeing the humanitarian crisis in war-torn Syria.

 

Lawyers for the two brothers told the Guardian that the pair were on Monday sleeping rough at the Addis Ababa Bole international airport in Ethiopia. With patchy cellphone service, they were trying to communicate with US lawyers.

 

“They were given permanent, lawful immigration status in the US, then everything was thrown into disarray on Saturday morning,†said Paul Hughes, one of the US-based attorneys representing the pair. “Now they are sleeping on chairs at the airport in Addis Ababa, with their backpacks, utterly bewildered. We are having trouble being able to talk to them ourselves.â€

 

Hughes added that the men speak English but were not given access to legal advice at Dulles. The lawsuit contends that both brothers were forced into paying for their own return flights to Addis Ababa.

 

Advocates working on behalf of the brothers argued their case revealed a “disturbing pattern†of behaviour by Customs and Border Protection officials.

 

“We believe the agency unlawfully coerced our clients, two Yemeni brothers, and others into signing administrative forms to waive their immigration rights,†said Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, legal director of the immigrant advocacy program of the Legal Aid Justice Center, in a statement.

 

“Their signatures were not voluntary.â€

 

The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

 

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jan/30/trump-travel-ban-yemenis-coerced-relinquish-green-card