ICE Denies Reason Access to Immigration Court In Miami Detention Center
Immigration courts are supposed to be open to the public, but Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) refused to allow a Reason reporter to enter a federal detention center in Miami where hearings take place.
And afterward the government more or less admitted we should have been let inside.
Yesterday, I drove up to the gate of the Krome Detention Center, an ICE facility on the western edge of Miami, and identified myself as a reporter who wanted to observe the immigration court inside. The guards look puzzled; court observers are out of the ordinary at immigration hearings.
But these are not ordinary times for U.S. immigration courts, and there have been numerous accusations of severe overcrowding and inhumane treatment at the Krome Detention Center since President Donald Trump’s mass deportation program began. Those accusations sparked protests over the weekend outside the center.
I’ve walked into county, state, and federal courts over my career without complications, so I was surprised when the gate guards claimed that only lawyers and relatives were allowed into the immigration court.Â
I was all the more surprised because I’d done a bit of homework before I left to go to the court. The Justice Department’s Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) website for the Miami Krome Immigration Court states that “hearings are open to the public, with limited exceptions, as specified in law.” The court website encourages the media to contact the EOIR to coordinate a visit, but it also says, “Yo
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