A nonprofit law firm has created a resource to teach people who are in custody at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center, or at the neighboring Desert View Annex, how to challenge their detainment.<\/p>\n
Available in English<\/a> and in Spanish<\/a>, the information packet walks immigrant detainees through the process of filling out their own petitions for habeas corpus.<\/p>\n \u201cHabeas corpus\u201d means \u201cyou have the body\u201d in Latin. In the U.S., this writ refers to a judicial order that forces authorities to bring the person they\u2019ve detained before a federal district court and justify their continued confinement.<\/p>\n This provision \u2014 enshrined in Section 9 of Article I of the U.S. Constitution<\/a> \u2014 is a safeguard against arbitrary imprisonment.<\/p>\n Immigrant Defenders Law Center created its resource for people who meet two criteria:<\/p>\n The petitioner has an open case in immigration court or a pending appeal with the Board of Immigration Appeals.The petitioner was previously detained and released by immigrant officials.\u00a0<\/p>\n Once immigrant officials release a detainee \u2014 once they decide that the person in question is not dangerous and does not pose a flight risk \u2014 \u201cthey can’t just arrest you again without proof of any change in circumstance,\u201d said Sarah Houston, managing attorney of the law firm\u2019s rapid response team.<\/p>\n An LAist investigation recently found that more immigrants are being held in detention without bond, and the increase in denials is steepest at Adelanto<\/a>. Plus, given reports of unsanitary and unsafe conditions<\/a> at Adelanto, along with a surge in deaths at ICE detention facilities across the country<\/a>, Houston said her team is acting out of a sense of urgency.<\/p>\n \u201cWe don’t want anyone to sit in detention for months and months, when they could potentially be drafting this and getting out,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n How this resource helps immigrant detainees<\/p>\n Immigrant Defenders Law Center is based in downtown L.A. Each week, their attorneys make the trek to the long-term detention facilities in Adelanto, out in the Mojave desert.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have a great network [of pro bono and low bono lawyers],\u201d Houston said, \u201cbut there is no way we have enough attorneys to meet the needs of [scores of detainees].\u201d<\/p>\n At the same time, she added, the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California was getting inundated with petitions for habeas corpus \u2014 so much so that it made a form for detainees who opt to represent themselves. In the legal world, self-representation is referred to as \u201cpro se.\u201d<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Houston and her team kept hearing about people who\u2019d been re-detained at Adelanto. In response, they created their resource for these \u201cpro se\u201d litigants.<\/p>\n The nonprofit\u2019s 24-page resource contains detailed instructions on how to file a petition for habeas corpus, but it\u2019s meant to be uncomplicated, Houston said. When creating it, the law firm\u2019s goal was to \u201cmake it as clear as possible,\u201d while mitigating the possibility that petitioners might make a mistake.<\/p>\n Before sharing the resource widely, the law firm identified one detainee for a test case. A judge decided the government was holding that person in custody illegally. Then, another detainee used the resource to secure his release and that of five others, Houston said.<\/p>\n Now, when her team goes to Adelanto, they take packets of the resource with them to distribute widely among detainees.<\/p>\n \u201cOur clients are so intelligent and so resourceful, and they will do anything to go back to their families,\u201d she said. \u201cOur job is to give them as much information as possible for them to be able to draft the best habeas.\u201d<\/p>\n Another resource for Adelanto detainees<\/p>\n If you have been re-detained and you have a final order of removal, attorney Sarah Houston recommends calling federal public defenders for a habeas corpus intake. Their phone number is (213) 894-4408.<\/p>\n What happens if a petitioner makes an error? \u00a0<\/p>\n Even with detailed instructions, Houston acknowledged, detainees who file habeas corpus petitions \u201csometimes do make mistakes.\u201d As a result, their petition might get rejected, forcing the detainee to refile. But in Houston\u2019s experience, courts tend to be more lenient when people are representing themselves.<\/p>\n \u201cIf it’s a minor error, they’ll just go forward with it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Under the second Trump administration, petitions for habeas corpus have skyrocketed.<\/p>\n