By Mary Slosson
Oct 19 (Reuters) - Rights groups filed a class-action
lawsuit on Friday against the Los Angeles County Sheriff's
Department, accusing it of unlawfully detaining immigrants at
the behest of the federal government for days beyond when they
should have been released.
The suit highlights the detention of a British filmmaker and
legal immigrant, Duncan Roy, who spent 89 days in jail because
of an erroneous federal immigration hold that left him unable to
post bail, according to the American Civil Liberties Union.C
The lawsuit is the latest effort by rights groups to turn
California into a so-called sanctuary state that protects
unauthorized immigrants. That is in stark contrast to states
such as Arizona that are engaged in crackdowns on illegal
immigration which have sparked fears of racial profiling.
An immigration hold is a request by the federal government
that they would like someone to remain in custody so they can
seek deportation.
"This massive unconstitutional detention is a symptom of the
criminalization of immigrants, a dangerous trend that must be
reversed," Jessica Karp, an attorney for the National Day
Laborer Organizing Network that was one of the groups involved
in the suit, said in a statement.
In Roy's case, he was initially arrested on a misdemeanor
extortion charge stemming from a falling-out with his
ex-boyfriend, which resulted in a much longer stay behind bars
than other people charged with similar crimes.
He said his extended jail stay could have exacerbated his
prostate and colon cancer and seeks damages for his treatment.
Three Mexican immigrants and an Estonian who say they were
unlawfully held were also party to the class action suit, filed
on behalf of all current and future detainees held in a county
jail for more than 48 hours solely for immigration holds.
Of the Los Angeles County jail population, around 14 percent
- or roughly 2,100 people on any given day - are subject to
Immigration and Customs Enforcement holds, according to the ACLU
of Southern California, which was also involved in the lawsuit.
Those individuals are held in jail nearly three weeks longer
than those without such holds, the group said.
A spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County Sheriff's
Department, Nicole Nishida, said the department was following
federal law, and acting on behalf of federal immigration
authorities.
A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman said
in a statement that the agency's cooperation with local law
enforcement on immigration holds ensures that "potentially
dangerous criminals are not released from prisons and jails into
our communities".
Much of the rights groups' unease stems from an
information-sharing program called Secure Communities, in which
federal immigration officials and local law enforcement work
together to deport illegal immigrants arrested for crimes.
The program, launched in 2008, helped the federal government
deport a record of about 400,000 illegal immigrants last year.
Friday's legal action followed a failed effort by
immigration rights advocates to pass a bill that would have
shielded some illegal immigrants from federal status checks.
That bill would have prohibited local authorities from
honoring federal immigration detention requests statewide unless
the individuals involved were charged or convicted of a serious
or violent felony.
California Governor Jerry Brown vetoed that bill in late
September. The author of the legislation, Democratic Assembly
member Tom Ammiano, has said he would revise and reintroduce the
bill in the next legislative session, which begins in January.
Earlier this month, Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck
said he wanted to institute a plan that would shield illegal
immigrants arrested for low-level offenses from potential
deportation by Jan. 1. The county has no plans for a similar
program.
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