By Nick Pinto
If U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement is trying to
silence its most vocal critics by singling them out for deportation
among the nearly 1 million people in the United States with final orders
of removal, is there any check or remedy for that abuse of power? Is
there any court, or indeed, any authority at all outside the executive
branch, with the power to protect those activists’ First Amendment
rights?
No.
That was the position articulated by Justice Department lawyers on
Tuesday before a panel of judges on the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals in
New York City. The hearing was meant to determine whether the court
should issue a stay preventing ICE from deporting just such a figure,
Ravi Ragbir, executive director of the New Sanctuary Coalition of New
York City, before he has a chance to assert his constitutional claim in
federal court.
Tuesday’s hearing in New York was only a small part of an already complex court battle: As The Intercept reported at the time,
Ragbir is one of the plaintiffs — along with the New Sanctuary
Coalition, four other immigrant rights groups, and some 79
friend-of-the-court supporters at last count — in a First Amendment
lawsuit filed in February accusing ICE officials of targeting activists
around the country for deportation, effectively prioritizing the
expulsion of its political enemies.
Click here for the full article.
Source: The Intercept_
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