02/11/2020  Tungol Law  Headline News "Judge orders feds to release immigrants detained during marriage interviews"

Regina Garcia Cano of the Associated Press recently reported that a federal judge in Maryland has banned immigration officials from arresting, detaining and deporting immigrants who are seeking legal status based on their marriages to U.S. citizens.

U.S. District Judge George J. Hazel issued the ruling Friday in a case filed by six couples accusing immigration officials of luring families to marriage interviews in Baltimore, only to detain the immigrant spouse for deportation. Hazel also ordered U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to release from custody immigrants married to U.S. citizens detained before they could complete the first step of the process to obtain legal residency.

Federal regulations allow U.S. citizens to try to legalize the status of spouses who have been living in the country illegally, including those with deportation orders. But the American Civil Liberties Union, which is representing the Maryland couples, has argued that a growing number of officers have “cruelly twisted” the rules by detaining immigrant spouses following the required marriage interviews.

The months-long process typically requires couples to demonstrate the legitimacy of their marriage as part of the first step. If the couples pass an interview and earn other approvals, immigrant spouses eventually must travel abroad for a visa interview at a U.S. consulate. Only if they receive a visa can they return to the U.S. legally.

It’s unclear how many people have become permanent U.S. residents through the Obama-era regulations. They were created to significantly reduce the time that U.S. citizens are separated from immediate family members while trying to build a lawful immigration case from their home countries.

Cano, Regina Garcia. ” Judge orders feds to release immigrants detained during marriage interviews ,” PBS, February 10, 2020, available on the web at https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/judge-orders-feds-to-release-immigrants-detained-during-marriage-interviews

For more details on this ruling, please go to https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/judge-orders-feds-to-release-immigrants-detained-during-marriage-interviews and https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/spouse-deport.pdf?fbclid=IwAR0vIbdkFAF25bC_22GxwOgtGL-fp7RPbfJGo0gSLJkx_WFvrSyME9crfYU for Judge Hazel’s order in full detail.

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