FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

News from LCCR – SF Bay

August 8, 2019

Contact: Matt Kovac, mkovac@lccrsf.org, (415) 510-9601

LCCR Denounces ICE Raids in Mississippi

SAN FRANCISCO – The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area (LCCR) denounces yesterday’s ICE workplace raids in Jackson and Canton, Miss., that have resulted in the arrests and detention of nearly 700 people.

The raids come just days after the Trump administration moved to restrict asylum eligibility for those fleeing persecution on the basis of family ties. Two weeks before that, the administration adopted a punitive and unlawful “third country rule” to block asylum seekers.

“This raid is an escalation of the federal government’s unconscionable war on immigrants,” said Bree Bernwanger, senior immigrant justice staff attorney at LCCR. “It benefits no one except the for-profit prison companies that run the detention centers where raid victims are most likely to be held in deplorable conditions. While these raids are the most visible attacks on immigrant communities, we cannot lose sight of the fact that they are happening alongside efforts to fast-track immigration court proceedings, deprive immigrants of due process, and unlawfully limit avenues for relief from deportation, like asylum.”

The Mississippi raids are the largest since 2008. Numerous children returned home from school to find themselves locked out and their parents missing. Neighbors sheltered them at a local gym.

“Once again, the Trump administration is traumatizing children to further its racist policy goals,” Bernwanger said. “Raids like this are just another family separation policy, this time targeting the immigrant families who are already part of our communities. They are meant to terrorize immigrants living in the United States the same way forced separation of recently-arrived families has punished new immigrants seeking protection here.”

LCCR’s Immigrant Justice program protects and advances immigrants’ rights through impact litigation, direct representation, and policy advocacy. Its Pro Bono Asylum Program, now in its 36th year, has represented thousands of asylum seekers before the San Francisco Immigration Court and Asylum Office.

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