A lawsuit filed in federal court on Wednesday in Manhattan accuses the government of denying detained immigrants their right to due process, by conducting hearings through video technology instead of in person.
Immigrants detained in the New York City area used to be taken to a court on Varick Street for their hearings. But that stopped after a protest outside the building in June and questions about the practice have been raised ever since.
The lawsuit claims technical failures with the video technology are rampant, leading to delays and even more time in detention for some immigrants.
"They're not being given the opportunity to fully participate in their hearings, to communicate with their counsel, to see the evidence against them," said Andrea Saenz, an attorney with Brooklyn Defender Services, during an interview on The Takeaway.
The suit was brought by Brooklyn Defender Services, Bronx Defenders and the Legal Aid Society. They're all part of the Immigrant Family Unity Project, a city-funded program to provide free lawyers for low-income immigrants in detention.
The public defenders are seeking class action status, on behalf of all immigrants with video hearings at Varick Street, and they have seven lead plaintiffs. Their suit describes two immigrants who lost their cases because of problems related to the video. And they cite a case in which a judge complained that an immigrant with cognitive problems had trouble understanding the proceedings.
The suit also refers to an immigrant who did not feel comfortable testifying about from the detention center because the discussion involved sexual identity, and ICE officers were able to listen.
The government doesn't comment on litigation but in the past it's said video technology is more cost effective.
Video is used in immigration courts across the country, mostly for immigrants held in detention. Data obtained from Fiscal Year 2018 by WNYC that found nearly 126,000 hearings were done by video, a 14 percent increase over the previous year.
Late last year, Immigration and Customs Enforcement starting bringing some detained immigrants to in-person hearings at a different court building at Federal Plaza, to the surprise of attorneys. This followed a lawsuit over the long waiting period for hearings. But hearings at Varick Street are still conducted by video unless problems with the feed force ICE to bring the detainees to court. It did this last last year and in early January following technical problems at the Bergen County, NJ detention center.