SAN JOSE, Calif. (CN) - Attorneys representing four plaintiffs who are seeking relief from arrest and detention during their immigration proceedings in the Bay Area asserted Monday that they have standing to certify a class that may include anyone who is detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and taken to temporary "holding rooms."
U.S. District Judge P. Casey Pitts heard arguments by plaintiffs' attorneys Marissa Hatton and Nisha Kashyap, with the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights, about the two distinct classes they want to certify: members who are arrested during their immigration court proceedings and those who are detained in the temporary "holding rooms," where, the attorneys claim, they are subject to inhumane conditions.
Kashyap argued the named plaintiffs have standing because of the "inherently transitory nature of the claim," in that even though none of the four named plaintiffs are currently detained, two of them, including Colombian asylum-seeker Ligia Garcia, were when they filed the class action, which allows them to be representative class members.
The other detained plaintiff, Martin Hernandez Torres, was taken to San Francisco General Hospital after medical complaints while at the ICE holding facility at 630 Sansome St. After treatment, which was never specified in court for what condition, he was taken back to 630 Sansome St. and then to a longer-term facility, after which he returned to Mexico, where he currently resides. Still, the plaintiffs' attorneys argue, Torres has standing in the class action because of his detention at the time the suit was filed.
U.S. Attorney Douglas Johns, representing Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, Attorney General Pamela Bondi and San Francisco ICE officials, said the plaintiffs shouldn't be given class certification, as their individual conditions and circumstances differed, and not all those who are arrested or detained by ICE agents have "the same injury."
The plaintiffs seek a preliminary injunction for all potential class members after Pitts granted one in October for plaintiffs Garcia and Guatemalan asylum-seeker Yulisa Alvardo Ambrocio, who were at risk of being detained or re-detained during their immigrant court hearings.
Hatton explained the preliminary injunction is necessary because the holding rooms at 630 Sansome St. are "without any humanitarian considerations," and people lack privacy while using restrooms, aren't given medical attention or prescription considerations, given only a thin mat with aluminum blankets and are under constant fluorescent lighting, unable to sleep.
"Conditions are eerily uniform across the country," she said.
The plaintiffs also seek a nationwide administrative stay to stop a current ICE policy of holding immigrants in temporary facilities for more than 12 hours, a time limit that was waived through an executive order citing a "national emergency" on immigration. Hatton said ICE was inconsistent with its own standards, as the 12-hour rule was in place for the past eleven years, and the administration did not consider the long-term effects of waiving it.
"They just moved the legal goalposts," she said. "That is why it's capricious; there was no explanation for the inconsistency or any guidance in the field."
Pitts, a Joe Biden appointee, said the plaintiffs needed to show how keeping people in holding rooms for more than 12 hours had a likelihood of "irreparable harm," for him to grant the stay.
Pitts did not mention on Monday how he was inclined to adjudicate the class certification and preliminary injunction, saying the actions "warrant some careful consideration," but told the court he wanted to act quickly to provide a written order.
Garcia and Ambrocio are two of four named plaintiffs in the Sept. 19 class action. The suit followed an Aug. 1 petition for writ of habeas corpus filed for named plaintiff Carmen Aracely Pablo Sequen, who was similarly detained by ICE but released after a day. The Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights in San Francisco and CARECEN joined the class action.
During the Monday hearing, Pitts questioned whether it was prudent to sever the habeas claims from the four plaintiffs with the class action, creating new cases for the individual claims.
Pitts granted a temporary restraining order on Sept. 19 that required Garcia to be released from detention at San Francisco Immigration Court, where she was held after a same-day arrest following her immigration hearing.
The motion to stay and a motion to dismiss will be heard on Dec. 9 in San Jose.
Source: Courthouse News Service
