Legal service groups that represent detained migrants have sued U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, alleging the agency prevents lawyers and their clients in four detention facilities from speaking regularly and confidentially.
“Defendants have systematically failed to ensure compliance with constitutional requirements, federal law, and ICE’s own policies regarding access to counsel,” according to the lawsuit filed in mid-October.
Five legal groups accused ICE and the Department of Homeland Security of harming detainees’ immigration cases by not offering regular and reliable avenues of communication between detainees and lawyers. The lawsuit also names Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and ICE Acting Director Tae D. Johnson as defendants.
