Expert: ICE Uses Green Card Appointments at USCIS to Arrest ‘Low Hanging Fruit’

Simon Montlake, CSMonitor, June 1, 2018 – “Immigrants married to US citizens who petition for them to stay present an easy target since they have declared themselves to US immigration services. Self-reporting immigrants make tempting targets for enforcement, says Stephen Yale-Loehr, a professor of immigration law practice at Cornell Law School in Ithaca, NY. “If you want to increase your numbers quickly, arresting people who turn up at [immigration services] are low hanging fruit. You know what time they’re going to be there,” he says. Now that practice faces judicial pushback in federal court in Boston. Eduardo was freed on May 8 after ICE was found to have violated his rights while in custody. This ruling led to a broader inquiry into ICE’s tactics by US District Judge Mark Wolf, who questioned why it was necessary to separate families who were seeking legal status for unauthorized members.”