'I'm happy ... I'm free': SPLC wins
asylum for Nicaraguan man released from 'black hole'
immigrant prison

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Liz Vinson, SPLC Staff Writer | Read the full piece here

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Friend,

When they arrived at the southern border in Ciudad Juárez,
Mexico, border officials separated Marco from his brother and forced
each into a separate hielera

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- more commonly known as "the ice box," where
migrants wait in frigid temperatures before being released to U.S.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

"I was put in the hielera for six days," Marco said.
"We were given very little food, and it was so crowded that I
couldn't sit, and I couldn't walk. They gave me an
aluminum blanket to use for warmth, but it was freezing - and we
were only given one hour to sleep."

After the sixth day, Marco - whose name has been changed in this
story to protect his identity - was shipped to an immigrant
prison in El Paso, Texas, where he remained until he was transferred
to Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Georgia, known as the
"black hole"

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of the U.S. immigration system due to its infamous living conditions
and its remote location.

Marco - an agricultural engineer who had worked in the northern
part of Nicaragua - had fled his home country to escape violent
political persecution there. He arrived at Stewart on July 17, 2021.

While many immigrants are released from detention on bond, parole or
on their own recognizance, Marco was less fortunate because ICE
detained him and refused to consider him for release for several
months.

ICE had chosen to ignore the orders of a lawsuit - Fraihat v.
ICE

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- that the SPLC filed with co-counsel on April 19, 2019. The
lawsuit states that while many immigrants could have been legally
released on parole or with a bond, ICE chose to detain them instead.

As a result, thousands suffered in detention, and many abandoned
viable immigration claims and accepted deportation out of a desperate
desire to be released or to obtain necessary medical care.

ICE's failures, according to the lawsuit, violate
immigrants' rights under the due process clause of the Fifth
Amendment and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. What's
more, Marco and his brother had presented themselves at a designated
port of entry in compliance with asylum law - but ICE chose to
detain them anyway.

READ MORE

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