SAN FRANCISCO — California’s corrections company routinely refers inmates who look like “foreign-born” to federal immigration authorities even when they’re U.S. residents and lawful residents, with some improperly detained by the federal government for weeks after their sentences, stated a lawsuit filed in state court docket Thursday.
The lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Foundation of Northern California additionally says that inmates singled out as being born exterior the U.S. are denied entry to rehabilitative packages.
Lawyers representing former and present inmates stated in a information launch saying the lawsuit that California’s insurance policies and practices goal immigrants and refugees based mostly on hometown, race and different prohibited classifications.
Corrections officers refer lots of of individuals every year to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, often called ICE, for doable deportation, even these born within the U.S., the lawsuit states.
A spokesperson for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation stated they’re reviewing the submitting.
According to the criticism, Brian Bukle was referred to ICE as a result of he was born exterior the nation though corrections data indicated his standing as a U.S. citizen. He was transferred into ICE custody on the finish of his sentence in June 2020 – lacking Father’s Day together with his son – and was launched after greater than a month solely after an immigration lawyer intervened.
Corrections officers additionally flagged one other plaintiff, Anouthinh “Choy” Pangthong, to ICE though he’s a U.S. citizen born in a refugee camp. He spent practically 19 years in jail fearing deportation and wanted an lawyer to take away the federal maintain, the criticism states.
Pangthong stated in a press release that at one level he virtually hoped to remain in state custody “to just avoid being ripped apart from my home and family. Deportation would mean losing my loved ones and a life rooted in the community and state I call home.”
The criticism states that the state company’s division operations handbook directs employees to refer inmates who’re foreign-born to federal immigration authorities for doable deportation, though many individuals born overseas are naturalized U.S. residents or everlasting residents who can’t be deported.
The criticism filed in Alameda County supplies examples of inmates, some recognized solely by their initials, denied entry to re-entry and different rehabilitative packages as a result of they have been flagged as foreign-born.
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