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Ice on Immigration: The fate
of the Howard Industries detainees
By L. Patricia Ice, Featured
Columnist
Question: I have a friend who was arrested by U.S. Immigration and
Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents at Howard Industries in Laurel,
Mississippi on August 25, 2008. My friend is being detained at the
LaSalle Detention Facility in Jena, Louisiana. I talked to him and he
said he is going to see an immigration judge soon. Can you tell me what
my friend might expect to happen to him in the coming days?
Answer: Last week I visited with some of the Howard Industries
detainees in Jena, Louisiana. Each case is different so I cannot tell
you exactly what will happen to your friend. However, what I learned
was that most of the detainees were eventually going to be transported
to the Immigration Court in Oakdale, Louisiana to have a hearing before
an immigration judge. Each detainee had the option of being personally
represented by an attorney or representing himself before the judge. In
general, depending upon the circumstances in his case, during the
hearing with the judge each detainee had 1) the option of requesting an
immigration bond in order to be released from the jail pending the final
disposition of his case, 2) the option of requesting to be removed
(deported) from the United States at government expense, 3) the option
of requesting to be removed from the United States at the detainee's
expense or 4) the option of requesting a hearing before the judge on the
merits of any other claim that the detainee might have to stay legally
in the United States. Most of the detainees I saw were not eligible to
stay legally in the United States and they were going to ask the judge
to order them to be removed. Others wanted to request an immigration
bond so that they could be free pending the disposition of their cases,
and some others thought they might be eligible to stay in the United
States and were going to pursue those claims. The detainees who are
going to be removed from the United States at government expense or
their own expense can expect to be sent back to their native countries
in two weeks to ninety days. Those granted an immigration bond may be
freed from jail soon after the bond is paid. Others will have to wait
for their cases to be decided and that time frame is not definite. I
may not have described what may happen to your friend because each case
is different. However, most of the detainees from the raid on Howard
Industries may expect any of the above in the coming days.
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