ICE Arrests Increase at Immigration Marriage Interviews
LAKE WORTH, Fla. — A south Florida man was taken into custody last week by ICE while attending an immigration marriage interview with his wife, according to the Miami Herald. Oscar Hernandez and his wife Maria went to a U.S. Customs and Immigration Services (USCIS) office located in Miami with the intention of being interviewed about their marriage, when Maria was asked to leave the interview for a moment, Carlos was detained by ICE.
This is not the first instance of an ICE arrest while an immigration interview is conducted. These types of arrests have been increasingly common in south Florida under the Trump administrations crack down on illegal immigration.
While it is noted that these types of arrests have been increasingly common in south Florida, immigration marriage interview arrests are happening all over the country. Lilian Calderon Jimenez and her husband Luis Gordillo attended an interview at a USCIS office in Boston where Jimenez was taken away in handcuffs. Calderon, a Providence, Rhode Island resident, was 3 years old when she was illegally brought to the U.S. from Guatemala and eventually served a deportation order when she was 15 years old, according to the Boston Globe.
Like Calderon, many of the individuals who have been arrested at immigration interviews were given deportation notices many years ago. “In a lot of cases, these people don’t show up to their court hearings due to a lack of knowledge,” said Nadine Heitz, an immigration attorney based in south Florida. According to Heitz, many individuals receive a letter summoning them for a court hearing, however, they may never get that letter and therefore are immediately subject to deportation due to their missed court date. This is exactly the circumstance for Hernandez, a Nicaraguan immigrant who was detained by ICE in 2004 when he illegally crossed the border into Texas. Upon his release, he was sent a letter to appear before a court, but never received the letter since he moved to Florida.
Immigration marriage interviews are used to review if a marriage is legitimate, and one of many steps in acquiring legal resident status through marrying a legal U.S. citizen.
The ACLU has filed a civil lawsuit against the USCIS for entrapment. Stating that USICS officials are working with ICE agents to “trap” immigrants who show up to their marriage interviews, only to be taken away by ICE. “In some cases, the USCIS cannot approve a green-card due to a removal [deportation] order…these people arrive to the office thinking they are going to a routine interview,” said Heitz.
“It’s scary to think about,” said Robert Sherman Young, the 21-year-old Bahamian immigrant who came to the U.S. in 2000. Young, who recently married a U.S. citizen is currently residing in Lake Worth on a temporary work visa. “To think that I can be taken away, just by following the orders of becoming a citizen is unsettling,” said Young in a phone interview.
While immigration interview arrests are on the rise, a call to suspend TPS, or temporary protective status, of immigrants from Haiti, Nicaragua, Sudan, and El Salvador by the Trump administration, has immigrants feeling the pressure. Although a federal judge blocked that same order recently, it is only temporary and in 2019 hundreds of thousands of immigrants could face deportation, according to Business Insider.
“Many of these people have been here for a long time…the majority will not leave due to the conditions of their home countries…now they are scrambling to acquire legal status means,” said Heitz. Before the recent call to halt the White House decision, TPS beneficiaries were looking at any opportunity to gain legal resident status, often through marriage.
Although the temporary order provides a sigh of relief for TPS beneficiaries, they are still seeking legal resident status which can be not only costly but can take a great deal of time through court hearings and litigation. Not to mention the lingering fear of rising marriage interview arrests.
While many believe it is unnecessary to end TPS status for these immigrants who are fleeing from hostile conditions, some, like Heitz, believe there are other ways to helping those seeking asylum. “Rather than to just keep TPS running…give an easier path to legalization if they deserve.”
Given the current political climate and the Trump administrations zero-tolerance policy towards illegal immigration, it can be expected that these types of arrests at marriage interviews, like the case of Oscar Hernandez and Lilian Calderon. In April, the ACLU of Massachusetts filed a class-action lawsuit against ICE, the DHS, and the Trump administration, on behalf of Calderon. In August, a motion by the Trump administration to dismiss was denied. The case is currently being deliberated.
