Amid Coronavirus, A Call To Suspend Immigration Court

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The entrance to the immigration court at Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Ga.

A coalition of immigration attorneys, judges and employees of Immigration Customs and Enforcement, or ICE, are asking that the nation’s immigration courts be suspended until coronavirus is no longer a danger.  

 Members of the National Association of Immigration Judges, the American Federation of Government Employees Local 511 (the ICE Professionals Union) and  the American Immigration Lawyers Association together submitted a letter to the federal Department of Justice citing the crowding in immigration centers plus the number of personnel who rotate in and out of adjacent courts as particular coronavirus dangers.  

The letter also cited the example of the Seattle Immigration Court, closed since March 13 in light of coronavirus. The organizations argued that if closure is warranted in Seattle, it is likely warranted across the country.  

Elizabeth Matherne, an immigration attorney in South Georgia and the chair of the Alabama Georgia chapter of the AILA, said she worries for people like an elderly client she now represents.  

“She has no criminal history and she is potentially at risk of getting this virus just because she's being held,” Matherne said.

Matherne said her husband is in a high-risk group for coronavirus, too, so she was relieved Tuesday when a judge allowed her to telephone in for a procedure at Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin rather than be there in person.  

“The judge was really accommodating in that particular matter,” Matherne said.  

If immigration court can’t be suspended until coronavirus is under control, Matherne said she would like to see expansion of teleconferencing for court proceedings.