Judge grants lawyers access to immigrants detained in Sheridan

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) – A federal judge in Portland ordered that immigration attorneys be given access to more than 120 asylum seekers being held at the federal prison in Sheridan.

U.S. District Judge Michael Simon on Monday granted an emergency order sought by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Innovation Law Lab, a nonprofit whose attorneys have been denied access to immigrants being held at the prison in Sheridan.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement transferred the immigrants to Oregon because other holding facilities have been overloaded since the Trump administration enacted a “zero tolerance” policy involving people entering the U.S. illegally.

The detainees are from 16 countries, but more than half are from India and Nepal.