US federal judge blocks arbitrary detention of Haitian asylum seeker

WASHINGTON, July 4, — A United States federal court has blocked the arbitrary detention of a Haitian asylum seeker and others fleeing persecution, torture or death in their countries of origin.

According to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the court also ordered a case-by-case review of whether each asylum seeker in the class-action lawsuit should be released on humanitarian parole.

Named plaintiff Ansly Damus, an ethics teacher from Haiti, has been in lock-up in Ohio for more than a year and a half, the ACLU said.

The case, Damus v. Nielsen, was filed in US District Court in Washington, D.C.

It names the US Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice as defendants.

The court’s ruling on Monday stems from a challenge brought by the ACLU, Center for Gender and Refugee Studies, Human Rights First, and Covington & Burling LLP.

The ACLU said US Government policy stipulates that asylum seekers be granted humanitarian parole as they await their immigration proceedings, provided they meet a series of stringent requirements.

Instead, the ACLU said Trump administration has “categorically jailed them indefinitely, in violation of the Constitution, US immigration laws, and the Department of Homeland Security’s own written policy”.

“This ruling means the Trump administration cannot use indefinite detention as a weapon to punish and deter asylum seekers,” said Michael Tan, senior staff attorney with the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project.

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