Latest / NO FILTER / _Violation of due process__ Lawyer of gay makeup artist deported speaks out(MP3_160K)

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_Violation of due process__ Lawyer of gay makeup artist deported speaks out(MP3_160K) · NO FILTER

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Welcome Back this morning, a closer look at President Trump's
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: immigration crackdown and the lives ofbended by it. An NBC
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  Speaker 1: News exclusive report details the case of Andre Hernandez Romero,
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  Speaker 1: a gay makeup artist who was among the group of
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  Speaker 1: Venezuelans deported from the US to Seacott that notorious Salvador
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  Speaker 1: in prison. That was back in March when President Trump
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  Speaker 1: invoke the Alien Enemies Act after Rorometro's deportation. His lawyers
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  Speaker 1: fought to keep his asylum case open as a way
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  Speaker 1: to keep him in the US legal system, but on Wednesday,
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  Speaker 1: a judge dismissed his case. I want to bring in
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  Speaker 1: NBC's David Noriega for more on his exclusive reporting. David,
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  Speaker 1: what else do people need to know about Andre's story,
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  Speaker 1: his case and how it fits into the bigger picture.
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  Speaker 2: Well, Anna, you know, Andrea Nandez is just one of
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  Speaker 2: the better known of these cases of Venezuelan men who
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  Speaker 2: were deported to the super Max prision in El Salvador
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  Speaker 2: under the Alien Enemies Act. His story has resonated with
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  Speaker 2: a lot of people. He's a gay man who was
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  Speaker 2: a makeup artist for a state TV station in Caracas.
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  Speaker 2: He came to the US. He told his lawyers here
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  Speaker 2: in the US that he had fled Venezuela because he
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  Speaker 2: was suffering persecution for both his sexual orientation and his
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  Speaker 2: opposition to the government of Nicolas Maludo in Venezuela. Now,
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  Speaker 2: those claims were the basis of his asylum case in
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  Speaker 2: the United States, which was in progress and an immigration
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  Speaker 2: court in the detention center where he was being held
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  Speaker 2: in San Diego, when that process was abruptly terminated when
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  Speaker 2: he was put on these planes on March fifteenth, that
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  Speaker 2: were sent to El Salvador with no due process, no
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  Speaker 2: court hearings, no communication with his lawyers, and up to
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  Speaker 2: this day, extremely little information, virtually no information about who
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  Speaker 2: these people were or the legal underpinnings for the decision
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  Speaker 2: to remove them to El Salvador. Now, the fact that
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  Speaker 2: the judge terminated his asylum case is important for a
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  Speaker 2: few reasons. When we talk about due process in these cases,
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  Speaker 2: what we are talking about often are these pending immigration
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  Speaker 2: cases in US immigration courts, often asylum claims like the
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  Speaker 2: one that Nandez Romeedo had. Those were the processes that
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  Speaker 2: were cut short by Trump invoking the Alien Enemies Act.
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  Speaker 2: So the lawyers, not just in this case, but in
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  Speaker 2: similar cases across the country. We're trying very hard to
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  Speaker 2: keep those cases open as a way of basically preserving
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  Speaker 2: the vestiges of this due process that was stopped in
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  Speaker 2: its tracks. Initially, the immigration judges were sort of open
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  Speaker 2: to this. They were continuing the cases that were keeping
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  Speaker 2: them open even though the person in question was absent
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  Speaker 2: and could not be contacted. But recently, in just the
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  Speaker 2: last couple of weeks, judges have started agreeing with the
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  Speaker 2: government's motions to dismiss these cases. Now, the reason this
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  Speaker 2: is troubling to the families and the lawyers of these
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  Speaker 2: individuals is because it's essentially eliminating any trace, disappearing them
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  Speaker 2: from the American legal system. And this is you know,
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  Speaker 2: this as it has always been, is a story about
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  Speaker 2: due process. It's important to remind people these people had
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  Speaker 2: pending immigration cases that were legally being assessed by a judge.
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  Speaker 2: That is the process that was cut short when the
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  Speaker 2: Alien Enemies when the Alien Enemies Act was invoked.
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  Speaker 1: I know you've been in contact with Andrew's mom and
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  Speaker 1: best friend. What are you hearing from them and have
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  Speaker 1: they had any intact with him?
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  Speaker 2: They have not had any contact with him, And every
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  Speaker 2: time I talk about these cases, I stress that these
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  Speaker 2: men who were sent to this prison are in functionally
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  Speaker 2: a black hole. The are completely cut off from contact
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  Speaker 2: with the outside world, with counsel, with loved ones. The
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  Speaker 2: United States government is not even acknowledging in court that
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  Speaker 2: they are there or identifying who they are. The only
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  Speaker 2: reason we know they're there is because we've seen pictures,
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  Speaker 2: some of the pictures that were released by the Salvadoran
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  Speaker 2: government or some other pictures taken by media. In other cases,
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  Speaker 2: the family of Andrea Nandez Rometo is very distressed by
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  Speaker 2: the fact that his asylum case was closed. They saw
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  Speaker 2: keeping this asylum case open as, in their words, a
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  Speaker 2: beacon of hope that he might eventually be released and
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  Speaker 2: brought to the United States Center.
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  Speaker 1: David Noriega, thank you so much for your reporting and
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  Speaker 1: joining us now. Is Andrea's lawyer, Lindsay Taslowski, Executive director
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  Speaker 1: of Immigrant Defenders Law Center. Lindsay as David mentioned the
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  Speaker 1: asylum case was dismissed for Andre, So what does that
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  Speaker 1: mean for him? Does the US have any skin in
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  Speaker 1: the game at all to get him out of that
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  Speaker 1: prison in El Salvador.
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  Speaker 3: Absolutely, so we are continuing to fight and we want
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  Speaker 3: to stress that his case being dismissed, his asylum case
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  Speaker 3: being dismissed, is not the end of Andre's story. He
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  Speaker 3: is the lead plaintiff in JGG versus Trump, the ACLU
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  Speaker 3: lawsuit that is seeking the return of the men who
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  Speaker 3: are in Sick Cat, including Andri. We believe that they
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  Speaker 3: are in the constructive custody of the US government. Still
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  Speaker 3: there is an agreement between the US government and El
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  Speaker 3: Salvador to hold Andri and the others. Today being day
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  Speaker 3: seventy five, that they are there in that super max
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  Speaker 3: prison in El Salvador. So we will continue to fight
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  Speaker 3: in that court. We also intend to appeal this decision.
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  Speaker 3: We think the judge was wrong here. Andri's case should
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  Speaker 3: be able to continue. He is only not in the
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  Speaker 3: court in San Diego because the US government moved him
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  Speaker 3: to El Salvador. They rendered him to El Salvador. He
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  Speaker 3: was seeking asylum, he was here. We were prepared to
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  Speaker 3: move forward, and we're still prepared to move forward. So
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  Speaker 3: we will not only fight within the asylum preceding itself,
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  Speaker 3: appeal this decision to a higher court. But we will
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  Speaker 3: continue to fight for his return in federal court.
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  Speaker 1: How frustrating is this for you as a lawyer, the
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  Speaker 1: system seemingly failing your client. You can't even contact him right.
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  Speaker 3: As I said, it's been seventy five days. In my
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  Speaker 3: fifteen years of practice, I have never had a situation
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  Speaker 3: like this where our client effectively disappeared overnight. We have
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  Speaker 3: been given absolutely no information. Every single government official that
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  Speaker 3: we have spoken to asking to get proof of life
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  Speaker 3: for our client has told us that they will not
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  Speaker 3: facilitate communication. In fact, the last proof of life we
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  Speaker 3: have are those horrific photos that were taken by a
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  Speaker 3: time reporter of him being abused and slapped in the
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  Speaker 3: face as he arrived in El Salvador. We have had
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  Speaker 3: Congressman Robert Garcia go down to El Salvador and ask
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  Speaker 3: through the US embassy and two Salvador and officials for
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  Speaker 3: proof of life for Andri and we still have received nothing.
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  Speaker 3: It's an absolutely absurd situation. It's a violation of due process,
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  Speaker 3: and really it should be a Canarian the coal mine
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  Speaker 3: for everyone of what happens when the government ignores the
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  Speaker 3: rule of law.
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  Speaker 1: I know you are also involved in the case of
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  Speaker 1: Eric Duardo Fonesca Solorzano, a father from Hondorres who was
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  Speaker 1: handcuffed and detained just moments after a judge issued a
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  Speaker 1: dismissal of his immigration case. The La Times described how
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  Speaker 1: his wife trembled in panic, his son watched in wide
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  Speaker 1: eyed disbelief as agents quickly shuffled him to a service
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  Speaker 1: elevator and he was gone. The boy was silent, sticking
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  Speaker 1: close by his mother, tears welling. How commonplace our situations
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  Speaker 1: like this now as the Trump administration tries to ramp
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  Speaker 1: up its immigration crackdown.
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  Speaker 3: So, beginning May twentieth here in the Los Angeles area,
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  Speaker 3: and and lawyers have reported across the country, we began
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  Speaker 3: to see these courthouse arrests. I was in court when
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  Speaker 3: mister Solozano was detained. I was in while the government
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  Speaker 3: moved to dismiss his case. He opposed on the record
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  Speaker 3: and told the judge that he wanted to remain in
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  Speaker 3: his asylum claim in proceedings with his wife and son,
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  Speaker 3: who were also there in the courtroom, and over his objections,
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  Speaker 3: the judge moved forward and dismissed his case. He was
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  Speaker 3: unrepresented at the time. As we exited the courtroom, I
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  Speaker 3: followed the family out and actually witnessed the ice officers,
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  Speaker 3: six of them in plane closed not wearing uniforms, you know,
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  Speaker 3: come up to the father, detain him, handcuff him in
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  Speaker 3: front of his son as tears brimmed in his eyes.
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  Speaker 3: I then, you know, went down stairs with the family,
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  Speaker 3: and I can tell you that to see that little boy,
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  Speaker 3: he was only eight years old in his school uniform,
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  Speaker 3: who came to court. It was their very first court
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  Speaker 3: date after entering the United States with an appointment, doing
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  Speaker 3: everything the government has asked them to do to seek
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  Speaker 3: asylum in the United States. To see his face, it
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  Speaker 3: was almost if he had aged two years from the
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  Speaker 3: time we left the eighth floor and got to the
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  Speaker 3: bottom floor. He was completely traumatized. And all of this
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  Speaker 3: so that the government can separate his father's case put
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  Speaker 3: him an expedited removal. Because you know, we continue to
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  Speaker 3: see the Trump administration finding fundamental fairness in due process
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  Speaker 3: in our immigration courts inconvenient to their plans for mass deportation.
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  Speaker 3: They believe that it doesn't move things fast enough. But
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  Speaker 3: due process is a bedrock of our justice system, and
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  Speaker 3: so we you know, took that case, we will continue
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  Speaker 3: to represent that family, continue to fight for them. But
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  Speaker 3: he was moved this weekend alone, seven hundred miles away
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  Speaker 3: to Washington State, and so we are continuing to represent him.
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  Speaker 3: But it is incredibly challenging what's happening in our immigration court.
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  Speaker 1: Lindsay's something you said really caught my ear, and that
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  Speaker 1: is this is an example of a case where migrants
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  Speaker 1: attempted to follow the so called right way to work
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  Speaker 1: within the system, did everything they were essentially told to do,
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  Speaker 1: whether it's applying through that CBP one app previously to
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  Speaker 1: have their asylum case now into the system. I mean,
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  Speaker 1: are they suddenly now easier targets because they did it
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  Speaker 1: the right way?
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  Speaker 3: That's exactly right, and that's why this is incredibly bad policy.
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  Speaker 3: It comes down to that fundamentally, because when you target
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  Speaker 3: people in immigration court, when you target the people who
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  Speaker 3: show up, the people who you know came in were
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  Speaker 3: parolled into the United States, go to their hearings, listen
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  Speaker 3: to the notices that they have come in to avail
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  Speaker 3: themselves of the system to seek asylum through that process.
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  Speaker 3: When you target them, what does that say to other people?
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  Speaker 3: It tells people that they should be afraid to come
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  Speaker 3: to court that they need to go into the shadows.
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  Speaker 3: This is bad policy. It makes us less safe as
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  Speaker 3: communities if we are punishing the very people who follow
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  Speaker 3: the rules. And I sat in a courtroom yesterday and
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  Speaker 3: watched this happen to person after person who were surprised
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  Speaker 3: after they walked out of the courtroom to be accosted,
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  Speaker 3: sometimes by masked agents in the hallways and taken into custody.
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  Speaker 3: These were people who came into court ready to move
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  Speaker 3: forward with their claims, who showed up when asked. It's
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  Speaker 3: incredibly counterintuitive to then target those people in enforcement actions
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  Speaker 3: like this.
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  Speaker 1: Lindsay TELSLASKI, I can hear your passion. Thank you so
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  Speaker 1: much for joining us in shining Light. Look forward to
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  Speaker 1: staying in touch.