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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsU.S. Citizen, Held By Immigration For 3 Years, Denied Compensation By Appeals Court
There's no right to a court-appointed attorney in immigration court. Watson, who was 23 and didn't have a high school diploma when he entered ICE custody, didn't have a lawyer of his own. So he hand-wrote a letter to immigration officers, attaching his father's naturalization certificate, and kept repeating his status to anyone who would listen.
Still, Immigration and Customs Enforcement kept Watson imprisoned as a deportable alien for nearly 3 1/2 years. Then they released Watson, who was from New York, in rural Alabama with no money and no explanation. Deportation proceedings continued for another year.
Watson was correct all along: He was a U.S. citizen. After he was released he filed a complaint. Last year, a district judge in New York awarded him $82,500 in damages, citing "regrettable failures of the government."
On Monday an appeals court ruled that Watson, now 32, is not eligible for any of that money because while his case is "disturbing," the statute of limitations actually expired while he was still in ICE custody without a lawyer.
The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals acknowledged that the ruling is "harsh," but said it was bound by precedent.
"There is no doubt that the government botched the investigation into Watson's assertion of citizenship, and that as a result a U.S. citizen was held for years in immigration detention and was nearly deported," the court ruled. "Nonetheless, we must conclude that Watson is not entitled to damages from the government."
http://www.npr.org/2017/08/01/540903038/u-s-citizen-held-by-immigration-for-3-years-denied-compensation-by-appeals-court
SamKnause
(13,147 posts)Nothing more then a slogan.
I am ashamed of my country.
3 1/2 years of his freedom taken.
$82,500.00 would have been a slap in the face.
Zero dollars in criminal.
Ms. Toad
(34,200 posts)False imprisonment is - generally - an ongoing offense that does not terminate until release, so the statute of limitations essentially should have started ticking again every day he was still in custody.
(I haven't looked up this particular statute, but that is a common interpretation for crimes or torts that aren't instantaneously completed.)
williesgirl
(4,033 posts)uponit7771
(90,390 posts)Snotcicles
(9,089 posts)lindysalsagal
(20,860 posts)His congressperson should also get involved. This sets 13th century prescedent. Should not be allowed to stand.
Flaleftist
(3,473 posts)How many fuck ups are going to happen now with record numbers of people being processed? Simply having the wrong color skin or wrong sounding name can get you locked up and maybe deported regardless of legal status.