A single mom, a day laborer: The crime-free migrants detained by Trump who are being denied bond and jailed indefinitely

A farmworker with no criminal record, whose wife and children are U.S. citizens and who has lived in Texas for more than 10 years. A single mother and cancer survivor who entered the country more than two decades ago. These are just a few examples of the immigrants who remain in detention in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) processing centers as a result of a new Trump administration policy that prevents them from seeking release on bond, regardless of their length of stay in the United States or their criminal record.

The no-bond policy, announced in July by the Department of Homeland Security, instructs ICE employees to consider anyone who entered the country without “inspection” as being subject to mandatory detention “for the duration of their removal proceedings.” As a result, immigration attorneys report, immigrants will be held indefinitely in detention while their cases are reviewed, which can take months or years.

The farmworker, a Mexican man in his 30s, was detained at a checkpoint. According to Pedro López, the immigration attorney handling the case, his client passed through there every day, but this time he was arrested and then denied bond. “That young man is a Boy Scout. I mean, he’s well-behaved, he’s an exemplary father. He works on a ranch. His life revolves around taking care of his family and working,” the attorney stated.

Although the man is married to a U.S. citizen, he never regularized his immigration status. Now, the fact that he’s in detention complicates his defense. “He can’t cooperate optimally, and the deadlines for submitting his defense will move much faster,” López explained. This means the lawyer has less time than usual to design his strategy. For the relief he’s preparing, he must prove that his client has lived in the United States for at least 10 years. Even if he has a way to prove it, gathering the documentation while his client remains in the detention center is much more difficult. “We’re focused on trying to work on the appeal, because they gave me somewhat aggressive deadlines. I’ve only spoken with him very briefly, so I have to do everything through his wife,” the lawyer added.

For López, the situation has become even more complicated because many judges “are misinterpreting” the new policy “and are denying bond to everyone” who goes through immigration court.

On June 19, single mother Ana Franco Galdamez was arrested in Los Angeles during a large-scale immigration operation. She had been in the United States for more than two decades, has no criminal record, and no previous contact with immigration authorities. In addition to being the sole provider for her two children, both of whom are U.S. citizens, she had just completed treatment for breast cancer.

She is currently being held at the ICE Processing Center in Adelanto, California and has not been able to undergo a follow-up mammogram. It is unclear when she will be able to leave the center, as she was denied bond despite the fact that the letters of support that accompanied her submission for bond describe her as “a woman of integrity, an involved and loving mother who works hard to provide for her family as a single mother.” The possibility of appealing the decision to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Board, according to the court file, has no practical effect.

Ana Franco’s story is part of a class-action lawsuit filed late last month against the federal government by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which aims to challenge this new policy. The organization, according to statements provided to this newspaper, also intends to challenge a specific policy in California, where judges at the Adelanto immigration court are denying bond.

The document presents several other stories of immigrants whose lives have been affected by this policy. A “hardworking and respectful” clothing packer who has lived in Los Angeles for four years; a father of four who has been in the United States for 20 years; the father of a daughter who is completely dependent on him. None of them has a criminal record or prior contact with immigration authorities. However, according to the document, they have been punished “disproportionately.”

Attorney Michael Tan, deputy director of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project, explained that with the lawsuit, the organization seeks to have the policy declared unlawful and restore people’s access to bond hearings. “We argue that this policy violates immigration laws, which have provided for bond hearings for more than 70 years. We also argue that it violates the right to due process,” said the specialist, who is one of the signatories of the legal complaint.

According to Tan, the White House-sponsored measure “removes immigrants’ right to request release from a judge and gives ICE almost total control over their incarceration.” He added that “the result is indefinite detention: people imprisoned for months or years with no end in sight. This will force people to abandon their immigration cases and accept deportation, even if they have the right to remain in the country, which is the ultimate goal” of the Trump administration.

The lawyer noted that the ACLU’s next step will be to “request a federal court to certify it as a nationwide class action.” “We are confident the court will reject this radical and unprecedented government policy,” he said. If this happens, lawyers like Pedro López could file a motion for a change of circumstances to try to free their clients.

According to Tan, “the Constitution guarantees all persons within the boundaries of the United States rights to equal due process under the law, full stop.” The government should never allow anyone to be imprisoned without guaranteeing them due process, he said: a hearing before a judge where the person has the opportunity to demonstrate that there is no justification for imprisoning them.

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