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U.S. District Judge Ann Aiken set December 12 as the hearing date in the lawsuit filed by Oregon immigration rights attorneys around the detention rights of people held at the Southwest Portland Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Portland.
Oregon Immigrant Rights Lawsuit To Be Heard In December
Oregon immigrant rights attorneys sued the federal government to ensure that the government upholds people’s constitutional right to consult with a lawyer. In October, Judge Aiken considered the lawyers’ request to grant a temporary restraining order (TRO) requiring that people held without warrants by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement be kept in Oregon at the ICE field offices in Portland, Eugene and Medford, for at least three days before being moved to long-term detention.
The TRO would give the affected people an opportunity to consult with a lawyer. Oregon doesn’t have a long-term immigration detention center; the closest one is in Tacoma, Washington.
On October 24, the federal government argued that ICE isn’t permitted to hold people in Portland for more than 12 hours, due to its land-use agreement with the city.
Judge Aiken noted that the government faced operational challenges with its sudden increase of immigration arrests, but said these needs should be evaluated before a system is ramped up. When they are not, cases such as this lawsuit end up in court to address the needs of individuals.
Judge Aiken said, “These are genuine practical considerations, and that I understand. But there’s a fundamental constitutional right to counsel.”
The Innovation Law Lab is is asking that immigration attorneys be granted access to private rooms in each of the three Oregon ICE offices to be able to meet with clients or potential clients for at least an hour.
They also requested that immigration authorities provide them with notice of the identity of each individual detained in Oregon.
In an Oct. 29 opinion, Aiken said she would give Innovation Law Lab lawyers, on behalf of Portland-based Clear Clinic, a nonprofit that offers legal advice on immigration matters, and farmworkers union Pineros y Campesinos Unidos del Noroeste, known as PCUN. Until the following Wednesday to file a new motion for a preliminary injunction. The federal government then had two weeks to respond.
The matter will be heard on December 12.
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