Five refugees and a consortium of legal groups that work on advancing the rights of immigrants have filed a class action lawsuit against federal officials over Operation PARRIS, a sweeping effort by the Department of Homeland Security to detain and “re-examine” refugees admitted to the United States legally, but have not yet gotten green cards. It applies to an estimated 5,600 Minnesotan refugees.
The refugees who filed the lawsuit have been detained or have had relatives detained since Operation PARRIS was launched on Jan. 9 in Minnesota. They are identified by their initials in the lawsuit, which was filed Jan. 24 in federal court in Minnesota.
The complaint describes federal agents stopping the refugees on their way to work and knocking on their doors and detaining people without giving them a chance to show their legal entry documentation. It also describes agents transporting them to Texas and in some cases releasing them after their interrogation onto the streets without their IDs, money or other means of getting home.
“On or around [Jan. 9], DHS agents began banging on doors, following cars, and appearing at workplaces and schools of hundreds of lawfully present refugees,” the lawsuit reads. “For two weeks, refugees in Minnesota have been subject to an official policy of warrantless and often violent seizures by DHS agents, and their family members and neighbors who have not yet been seized have been living in a state of pervasive fear.”
The DHS has not yet responded to the lawsuit and did not respond to prior questions from the Minnesota Star Tribune about its process for holding and re-examining refugees.
In a news release Jan. 9 announcing Operation PARRIS, the DHS stated: “This operation in Minnesota demonstrates that the Trump administration will not stand idly by as the U.S. immigration system is weaponized by those seeking to defraud the American people. American citizens and the rule of law come first, always.”
The lawsuit alleges violations of the Immigration and Nationality Act and the Constitution, and asks the federal court to enjoin the government from detaining refugees who are lawfully in Minnesota and transporting them out of state to other jurisdictions.
“The Trump administration is intentionally and illegally terrorizing resettled refugees who are not accused of any wrongdoing,” said Kimberly Grano, staff attorney with the International Refugee Assistance Project, one of the nonprofit organizations that filed the lawsuit.
