A federal judge, citing due process concerns, ordered the release of a Bronx man who was taken into custody during his annual U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement check-in.
U.S. District Court Judge Lawrence Vilardo ruled that ICE had violated 63-year-old Sering Ceesay’s due process rights by failing to give him an opportunity to contest his detention.
“How can we pride ourselves on being a nation of laws if we are not willing to extend that most fundamental right to all — if we are not at least willing to ask, before we lock you up, do you have anything to say?” Vilardo wrote in his order granting Ceesay’s release.
ICE is increasingly arresting immigrants, such as Ceesay, who despite losing their deportation court cases were previously allowed to stay in the country, according to Peter Markowitz, director of Cardozo School of Law’s immigration justice clinic.
“This case is an exemplar of what is going on kind of on a larger scale and somewhat obscured from, from public view,” Markowitz said.
Read the full article here.
Learn more about the case here.
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