Morganne Barrett, Jennifer Grant and Perry McAninch – attorneys at The Legal Aid Society’s Immigration Law Unit working with the New York Immigrant Family Unit Project – penned a joint op-ed in City Limits calling for an end to the abrupt, unannounced transfers of immigrant detainees held at local Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facilities to facilities located throughout the United States, as well as the release of all those currently incarcerated by ICE in the tri-state area.

Since the beginning of the year, ICE has abruptly moved at least 50 locally detained immigrants without notice, utterly disrupting their access to counsel – as well as to their families and support networks. In many cases, detained individuals have simply disappeared, with ICE deportation officers refusing to respond to reasonable inquiries from counsel about their clients’ whereabouts.

“President Biden promised that his administration would hold immigration authorities responsible for the inhumane treatment of people held in detention facilities [and] roll back the draconian policies of the previous administration,” the op-ed states. “He can make good on that pledge today by ending this practice and freeing our clients from deplorable conditions that no human being should have to endure.”

Read the full piece here.