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‘Could cost you your freedom': Immigration attorneys warn clients of ICE arrests at Memphis court
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — 'Abide by the law — but understand it could cost you your freedom.'That's the warning immigration attorneys are giving clients who show up for court in Shelby County.
WREG has told you about the ICE agents who have shown up at the court, arresting people on the spot once their cases are disposed of.
You wouldn't know the court was taking place at 80 Monroe Avenue, but most mornings and afternoons, Immigration Court is in full force on the 5th and 8th floors of the downtown Memphis building.
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Attorney Andrew Rankin has been representing clients here for years, but says recently, he has witnessed something never seen before.
'These pictures show what happens to people who are trying to do the right thing by showing up to their immigration hearing,' said Attorney Rankin.
Eight people were detained on May 22.
'Taking away a single mother who doesn't even have a traffic ticket. There is no comparable in my professional career. I don't even know what I would compare this to if I tried,' said Rankin.
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WREG sat in on Judge Russo's afternoon docket. The courtroom is small, and the defendants were brought in one at a time.
Most don't speak English and have to use an interpreter. Many of their attorneys aren't in the courtroom and appear virtually.
WREG didn't see anyone detained for the hour when in the courtroom.
'Most or almost all of the arrests are going to take place in the morning so that they can process them in Memphis around the lunchtime hour, maybe early afternoon, and then the transport comes to get them down to Louisiana,' said Rankin.
He says judges are dismissing cases and telling defendants they are free to go.
'They exit the immediate courtroom, and then they're taken into custody, either just outside the door or in the hallway leading to the exit,' said Rankin.
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He says they are then taken off to an ICE office near the airport.
Because there are no bed facilities in Memphis, the detainees have to be taken hours away to Louisiana, the closest detention center, where they restart the deportation proceedings.
'Restart your case under a different proceeding that allows us to get you out quicker, and that provides fewer rights for you to challenge what's going on,' said Rankin.
We were told it happens quickly, and families can be left torn apart. One downtown worker witnessed it.
'And like a mom was crying as she was getting put in, and her kid and I assume her husband was shooed away,' said a witness.
'They know they know if you don't show up to court, you're going to get ordered deported. They don't need an attorney to tell you that they know that, but they also don't want to go to court and voluntarily cause their own arrest,' said Rankin.
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Attorneys said they are left in a quagmire as they advise their clients that they legally have to show up for their court date, but also alert them of the risks.
'You also have to advise them of the landscape right? The entire landscape,' said Matthew Orr, immigration attorney. 'I think that at the end of the day. An attorney's job is to help their client make informed decisions. It's not to make decisions for the client.'
'I am ethical. I advise people of what the law is. You know that that's my job. The law is that if you're ordered to show up for a hearing, you're ordered to show up for a hearing but, on the other hand, it would be disingenuous to look someone in the eyes and tell them that they're gonna go home and see their kids tonight,' said Orr.
Meanwhile, the Department of Homeland Security said this is a part of the new Trump Administration implementing the rule of law.
Illegal immigrants who have entered the U.S. in the last 2 years are subject to expedited removals. ICE is now following the law and placing them in that expedited removal process.
Attorneys told WREG that ICE agents first started showing up at courts on the West Coast, and said this was a national rollout that has now made it to Memphis.
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