Court ruling means Minnesota immigrants sent to Texas may have little chance of returning

A recent federal appeals court ruling means immigrants detained in Minnesota and sent to Texas won’t be released on bond — for now.

Thousands of immigrants detained during the monthslong Operation Metro Surge have been sent to Texas detention facilities. While the surge in immigration enforcement is expected to end soon, the spike in arrests means many immigrants are sent away before they have a chance to talk to an attorney or have an initial hearing at the Fort Snelling Immigration Court.

The Federal Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans upheld the Trump administration’s policy that anyone who entered the U.S. without permission is not eligible for bond. The Fifth Circuit’s Feb. 6 decision covers Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi, states that are home to some of Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s largest detention facilities.

A young man from the Twin Cities in the process of applying for asylum, who asked not to be identified because he fears reprisal, told the Minnesota Star Tribune he was held at a Texas detention facility in unsanitary conditions with no privacy to shower or use the bathroom. He said more than 60 people were crammed into a cell, toilets routinely overflowed and he had to sleep curled up on the floor without a blanket.

“The smell was intolerable,” he said. “I felt embarrassed being there because of the way we were treated.”

After four days, an attorney from a Texas nonprofit was able to get him released by filing a habeas corpus petition challenging his detention as illegal.

Days after he was returned to Minnesota, the Fifth Circuit backed the Trump administration’s mandatory detention policy with a 2-1 ruling.

That changed in July when immigration judges started denying bond hearings for anyone who entered the country illegally, even if they had been living in the U.S. for years. The new policy helped drive nationwide detention numbers to 70,000 by the end of January.

In her opinion, Judge Edith Jones, appointed to the court by the late Republican President Ronald Reagan, agreed with the argument that the government’s past practice has little to do with the statute’s text.

“The statute unambiguously provides for mandatory detention,” Jones’ opinion said.

Julia Decker, policy director for the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota, said the administration’s policies increasingly make it difficult for immigrants to pursue their legal cases.

“We are really at a disadvantage when people are sent out of state and are in another jurisdiction,” Decker said. “The odds stack up.”

David Wilson, a Minneapolis attorney who is part of a nationwide group challenging mandatory detention, said they are requesting a “rehearing before the full Fifth Circuit because the position taken in that case is inconsistent with almost the entirety of the federal judicial system.”

Attorneys also worry a similar legal action is headed to the Eighth Circuit, which includes Minnesota and six other states. They expect the matter to eventually reach the U.S. Supreme Court.

Meanwhile, a steady flow of detainees is moving through the Whipple Federal Building to Texas.

ICE claims to have detained 4,000 people in Minnesota since Operation Metro Surge began in December, a number the Star Tribune has not been able to independently verify. Volunteers who track deportation flight activities estimate 3,000 immigrants have been sent out of state since Jan. 1.

“They’re pretty much all going to El Paso,” said Nick Benson, an activist and professional flight tracker who is part of a group monitoring the chartered jets with detainees leaving the Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport each day.

Attorney Kim Boche said in the court filing that several detainees told her they had not been able to talk with an attorney. She also noted the facility was dirty and detainees were held in cells that were freezing without blankets.

The Twin Cities man held in Texas said he had similar experiences during the brief time he was held at the Whipple Building. But he said things were worse in Texas, where guards ignored detainees’ requests for medical care.

Three people, including one from Minnesota, have died in Texas detention facilities since December.