Longtime NYC immigrants from West Africa held by ICE after check-ins at Federal Plaza
Judges had barred sending the women back home. Advocates fear the arrests point to a push to deport them to third countries instead.
Federal immigration agents have taken several West African women into custody in recent weeks after summoning them to 26 Federal Plaza in Lower Manhattan, advocates say. Each of the women has spent decades in New York City. Their cases are laid out in about six habeas corpus petitions brought in federal court during the last two weeks.
Among those held are a home health aide, a woman who braids hair, a house cleaner and a certified nurse’s assistant. Immigration judges had previously ruled that each one would face danger if returned to her home country, and gave her a legal status that bars sending her there.
Supreme Court order and third-country deportation
That shield applies to the home country. Under a U.S. Supreme Court order made public Tuesday, the women could be quickly removed to a different nation altogether, known as a third country. The justices are expected to take up the question later this year.
Advocates worry the arrests signal that the Trump administration is moving to expand third-country deportations. They see it as the administration’s newest attempt to get around safeguards meant to stop deportations when a person’s safety is in danger.
What DHS says about third-country removals
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security defended the practice when asked about the arrests. In a statement, a department spokesperson said sending people to third countries is “an essential public safety tool” that gets the most dangerous criminals who are in the country illegally off the streets.
The spokesperson also said immigrants who go to court to avoid being sent back to their own country should expect the government to locate another safe and secure country for them.
Quick answers
Where were the women taken into custody?
At 26 Federal Plaza in Lower Manhattan, after they were summoned there in recent weeks.
What is a third-country deportation?
It is a removal to a nation other than the person's home country, used here for people a judge has protected from being sent home.
How did DHS respond?
A spokesperson called third-country removals "an essential public safety tool" and said immigrants who fight a return home in court should expect the government to find another safe country for them.
