Lawyers seek to meet with immigrants in Sheridan prison

SALEM, Ore. (AP) – Immigrants from Latin America were transferred by immigration officials to a federal prison in Sheridan, and a lawyer with a group of attorneys that wants to represent them says they’ve been denied access.

Attorney Stephen Manning of Portland says Immigration and Customs Enforcement also has not made assurances that the immigrants who authorities say came into the United States illegally will be able to meet with attorneys before they’re deported.

Carissa Cutrell, a spokeswoman for ICE, as the agency is known by its acronym, said it is working to ensure that detainees have appropriate access to lawyers.

Members of Oregon’s congressional delegation plan to visit the prison in Sheridan soon. Sen. Jeff Merkley has been particularly critical of the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” policy that has seen immigrants separated from their children.

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News release from Merkley:

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Following up on his deep concerns about the Justice Department’s new “zero tolerance” policy that is driving family separation at the border, Oregon’s Senator Jeff Merkley spoke with U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions via phone this morning.

In response to Sessions’ statement to Hugh Hewitt that he would be open to visiting the border with Merkley to see first-hand how children are being treated, Merkley invited Sessions to join him on the McAllen/Brownsville border this Sunday. Merkley is leading a congressional delegation to the area on Father’s Day to further investigate the family separation crisis. Sessions cited scheduling conflicts and is unable to participate.

Merkley pressed Sessions on reports that officials at legal ports of entry are delaying or denying migrants’ entry in an apparent effort to deter them from applying for asylum in the United States or to force them to enter illegally, allowing their arrest and family separation.

Merkley also spoke with Sessions about the traumatic impact of family separation on children and urged the Attorney General to consult child development experts about the impact that the department’s policy is having on children. Merkley strongly urged Sessions to consider alternatives like the Family Case Management Program. That program has proven successful in keeping families within the legal immigration system while ensuring families are not separated and traumatized during their wait for an asylum hearing.

Each day, new reports emphasize the human toll of the administration’s “zero tolerance” policy and family separations. Over the weekend, the Washington Post reported on a Honduran asylum seeker who committed suicide after being separated from his son. The New York Times reported recently on the administration’s slow-walking of asylum seekers trying to apply for asylum at legal points of entry, forcing them to wait in the heat for days or even weeks. And yesterday, CNN reported that an infant was snatched out of her mother’s arms while breastfeeding at a detention center in McAllen, Texas. The mother was handcuffed for resisting.

Statement from Senator Jeff Merkley:

“This intentional strategy of inflicting harm on children to deter adults somewhere else in the world from seeking asylum in the U.S. is completely wrong and unacceptable. There is no moral or religious code anywhere in the world that condones hurting children to influence adults. This needs to end.”