The 2-1 ruling from the ninth US circuit court of appeals brings issue one step closer to coming back before supreme court. This blog is now closed.Lawmakers are calling for the release of an Afghan interpreter, who worked with the US military for years in his home country, who was seized by armed, masked Ice agents after a routine appointment for his green card.The former wartime interpreter, identified only as Zia for his safety and that of his family, aided American troops in Afghanistan for about five years during the war and fled the country with his family after the Taliban resumed power in 2021.Zia has done everything right. He’s followed the rules. He has no criminal history.Following the rules are supposed to protect you. It’s not supposed to land you in detention. If he is deported, as so many of the people have articulated today, he faces death.What happened to him is the worst kind of abhorrent violation of basic decency. Put aside the legal causes and the issues here for unmasked agents to snatch someone off the street with no warning, no counsel, no opportunity even to know who is doing it while it’s in process is un-American.To Zia, we have your back. We’re going to fight for you. We’re going to leave no stone unturned.Our credibility is at stake. We have families who have risked everything not just for themselves, but for their entire family. They have risked their health and safety. And in the name of standing up for the promises of our American democracy, that could not have been easy at the time. So this betrayal has to be that much more difficult in this moment.This isn’t about one person. This is about thousands of people. This is about our veterans. If their word means nothing when they’re on the battlefield, risking their lives, and being saved in so many instances by the support of people like Zia who are giving this services as their family and their own lives are being threatened and tortured, then what does that mean for our word going forward?In June this year, average daily arrests were up 268% compared with June 2024.Ice is increasingly targeting any and all unauthorized immigrants, including people who have no criminal records.Despite Trump’s claims that his administration is seeking out the “worst of the worst”, the majority of people being arrested by Ice now have no criminal convictions.Detention facilities have been increasingly overcrowded, and the US system is over capacity by more than 13,500 people.The number of deportations, however, has fluctuated as the administration pursues new strategies and policies to swiftly expel people from the US.The US government has deported more than 8,100 people to countries that are not their home country. Continue reading...
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