JFS, refugees sue Homeland Security over policy to detain refugees

SPRINGFIELD — While Fikiri Amisi recently became an American citizen, he remembers the struggle of coming to the United States as a refugee.

“It is a long process. It took time,” he said.

Before Amisi was allowed to enter the country, he filled out documentation, met with several different government agencies, received immunizations, affidavits from doctors, and was vetted to rule out illicit drug use and any criminal history. “Refugees are all heavily screened before we’re allowed into the country,” said Amisi. “For refugees to come, it is not a small process of one or two months. It takes years.”

For this reason, Amisi, who is now a refugee employment specialist with Jewish Family Service of Western Massachusetts, said a recent policy change by federal Citizenship and Immigration Services and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, both of which are part of the Department of Homeland Security, is “unreasonable.” The policy would allow for the detention of refugees who have been in the country for more than one year without obtaining lawful permanent resident status, known as a green card.

However, refugees must be physically present in the country for one year before they are allowed to apply for lawful permanent resident status. Amisi said the policy allows no time for people to go through the green card process, which took Amisi more than one year due, in part, to interruptions connected to the coronavirus pandemic. “I know many in the community who haven’t received their green card. Some, they have two years in process, in process, in process.”

Amisi said, “Many refugees are just beginning to get their lives in order. The countries where we came from, we were in fear.” He said the idea of detention is frightening for many and causes emotional distress. “It’s not fair. It’s not fair,” he said. “We are not a threat to the United States.”

When reached for comment, U.S. Customs and Immigration Service Spokesman Matthew J. Tragesser stated, “The Trump Administration is implementing longstanding law as Congress intended: requiring aliens admitted as refugees to be fully re-vetted after a year. This is not novel or discretionary; it is a clear requirement upheld by the courts for years. Fully vetting and screening refugees is critical to protecting national security and the American public from known failures of the Biden administration.”

To block the federal government from implementing the policy, Jewish Family Service joined six refugees and the International Institute of New England in a class action lawsuit against Department of Homeland Security, ICE and CIS.

A lawsuit against the federal government is not something Jewish Family Service undertook lightly. Camille Wathne, director of special projects at Jewish Family Service, said it is, “unusual but important work” because the policy change would affect as many as 1,000 of Jewish Family Service’s clients.

Jewish Family Service provides a variety of programs, including those for Jewish Life, older adults and behavioral health. It also has robust programs for citizenship and immigration, and new Americans. These programs offer services, such as case management, English language classes, enrollment in school and help finding employment. Referring to the memorandum and other immigration policy changes under the Trump administration, Camille said, “It’s a pretty direct attack on the work we do.”

The suit, filed on Feb. 27 in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts, states the policy violates the U.S. Constitution’s Fourth and Fifth amendments — prohibition of warrantless seizures and the right to due and equal protection, respectively — according to the main complaint. The plaintiffs say the policy changes were piloted on Jan. 9 in Minnesota as “Operation Post-Admission Refugee Reverification and Integrity Strengthening” or “Operation PARRIS,” and go on to state, “The Administration is systematically implementing policies that are hostile to refugees, with the end goal of terminating their refugee status and expelling refugees en masse.”

Under the previous policy, which had been in place since 2010, a refugee’s failure to obtain lawful permanent resident status after one year of physical presence in the country was not, in and of itself, treated as basis for detention or removal from the United States. If the refugee was arrested on another matter, the Department of Homeland Security was required to either release the person or begin removal proceedings within 48 hours.

A memorandum released by ICE and CIS in February regarding the policy change cites part of the U.S. Code that states a refugee must “return or be returned to the custody of the Department of Homeland Security for inspection and examination.” The memo states that returning to custody may include submitting an application for legal permanent status or appearing for a scheduled interview or appointment. However, it also states, “‘Custody’ as used in” the federal code “means detention.”

Anyone who does not voluntarily turn themselves over to Homeland Security would be arrested and detained. The memo does not state how long the person would remain in custody or where they would be held. Instead, the cited legal basis for the detention states it is “not indefinite” but “may last for the reasonable length of time it takes to inspect and examine the alien to determine whether he or she is admissible.”

On March 23, Judge Richard G. Stearns granted a stay of the policy change’s enforcement. In granting the motion, he wrote that the plaintiffs are likely to be successful in their argument that equating custody and detainment is unlawful. He noted that it has not historically been used in that context and “Refugees are not detained upon arrival and thus cannot be “returned” to detention.” He also stated, “The individual plaintiffs are at risk of unlawful and unnecessary detention, a quintessential example of irreparable harm.”

Despite the stay of enforcement, Wathne said, the potential of detention has had “a chilling effect.” She said refugees are hesitant to take their children to school, go to work or access services they are entitled to, for fear they will be detained.

“If you come as a refugee, you are on a path to legal settlement,” she said, adding that they have a right to “live without fear of deportation and arrest.” Ultimately, she said, the Trump administration has created “fear, distrust and stress, risking the safety of people who are a part of us.”