Additional Coverage:
- ICE blindsiding husbands and wives at their final green card interviews with arrests (themirror.com)
Immigrants Apprehended by ICE at Green Card Interviews, Raising Alarm Among Lawyers
San Diego immigration attorneys are raising serious concerns after multiple reports of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arresting individuals at their final green card interviews. Since mid-November, dozens of immigrants, some attending with their families, have been taken into custody by ICE at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services offices, just as they believed they were moments away from securing permanent legal status.
These arrests reportedly occur at the conclusion of interviews with immigration officers, when ICE agents intercede to apprehend applicants. Stephen Paul recounted a distressing incident to the New York Times, describing how ICE agents arrested his wife, a UK national, leaving him to comfort their crying baby.
In each of the cases reviewed by the New York Times, ICE agents informed applicants that they had overstayed their tourist or business visas. “It’s insane to have them rip our family apart,” Paul stated, adding, “Whoever is directing this has completely lost touch with their mission to the country.”
An ICE spokesperson, in a statement to the Times, defended these actions, explaining, “Apprehensions at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services offices may occur if individuals are identified as having outstanding warrants; being subject to court-issued removal orders; or having committed fraud, crimes or other violations of immigration law while in the United States.”
However, immigration lawyers are characterizing these actions as an unprecedented shift in protocol. Johanna Keamy, the attorney representing the Pauls, expressed her astonishment, stating, “In 25 years of practice, I have never seen anything like this.”
She further questioned the rationale, saying, “The proper procedure was exactly what they did. What’s next?
Revoking green cards from millions who followed these same steps?”
The individuals arrested, including Paul’s wife, had reportedly completed extensive paperwork, paid necessary fees, undergone fingerprinting, and passed medical examinations. None had criminal records, nor did they enter the country illegally.
In a recent development, after legal action was initiated by their lawyer to prevent his wife’s deportation without a hearing, the government approved her green card and she was subsequently released from a detention center.