Immigration Court: Immigrants spent hours on Thursday in Memphis, Arlington and San Francisco for false court appearance dates

Fearing expulsion if they did not show up, immigrants from all over the country went to the CIE's court on Thursday to discover that the dates of their hearing were false. . Some traveled for hours and hundreds of miles without anything, which caused what a lawyer called "mass chaos" in the country's courthouses.

Immigration lawyers told CBS News that there was confusion, crowds and long queues in immigration courts . in the country Thursday morning. CIE agents had published thousands of notice of summons documents – essentially a summons to appear before an immigration court – inviting immigrants to appear in court or risk their final removal from the United States. It was only when hundreds of these people arrived in court that they realized the dates were not real.

"It's a mass chaos," said Ruby Powers, a Houston-based immigration lawyer, during a phone interview with CBS News. "These courts are already understaffed to try to clean up the mess caused by the government shutdown." It's a perfect storm.

In an attempt to comply with a Supreme Court decision, CIE agents began publishing seemingly random court dates last year. Immigration lawyers knew that it was necessary to check, but unrepresented immigrants were left in the dark, said Eileen Blessinger, a Virginia-based immigration lawyer. There is an 800 number that people can use to check the status of their immigration records, but it is impossible for an immigrant without legal representation – more than half of all the members of the court system. immigration – would be aware of this option, Blessinger. said during a phone interview with CBS News.

In Arlington, Virginia, four immigration lawyers have reported long queues and a crowded courthouse. The immigrants had received notices of appearance but had no scheduled hearing.

Ms. Blessinger testified that she spoke to a woman who left her home at 3:30 am and spent about $ 100 so that the date of the hearing was indicated on her NTA. Not only did he not have an audience, but his case had not yet been introduced into the judicial system.

In San Fransisco, at 9:30, hundreds of immigrants with NTA had formed a line that snaked around a block away. according to Christina Reggio, a lawyer specializing in immigration in the city.

Christina Reggio

At 11 am, the Memphis immigration court hall was jam-packed with "at least 100" immigrants holding an NTA with fake dates, said Erica Tamariz, a lawyer specializing in immigration. immigration to Memphis.

Rather than refuse them, the court administrators helped the immigrants, checking a second time that all their addresses were accurate and assuring that they would soon receive a notice of hearing by mail. The jurisdiction of the Memphis Court covers all of Tennessee, Arkansas and the northern half of Mississippi.

"Some people arrived eight hours away for these bogus hearings," Tamariz said in a telephone interview with CBS News. "It was clear that they did not know at all that they did not have an audience this morning."

The false notices are the result of a Supreme Court decision rendered last summer. Prior to the decision, ICE officials sent immigrants with "to be determined" or "to be determined" birth dates. In a phone interview with CBS News, Brian Casson, a Virginia-based immigration lawyer, told the immigration court that the migrant would receive an official notice of hearing later.

One of the results of this situation: NTAs could block the admissibility of an immigrant to a "cancellation" Jeremy McKinney, a Charlotte, North Carolina, said Jeremy McKinney, even with no date of # 39; audience, "even a legal resident status granted to some undocumented immigrants after 10 years of uninterrupted life in the United States immigration lawyer, during a telephone interview with CBS News. [19659003] A Supreme Court decision rendered last summer – Pereira v. Sessions – prohibited the practice, requiring that all subpoenas use actual dates.

in place for ICE to see the program court, ICE apparently just invented dates, immigrants were asked to appear on weekends and at midnight, and dates that did not even exist, such as September 31, CBS News [19659003] The problem has become so prevalent that immigration lawyers told CBS News that if they had a client with a hearing date on an NTA, they assume that it 's not the case. is wrong.

In a statement Thursday morning, an ICE spokesman said that the agency was working with the Justice Department "for the proper publication of notices of appearance". The spokesman said the closure of the government had "delayed" this process, "resulting in an expected overflow of individuals appearing for immigration proceedings today / January 31". Green Card holder living in the United States for over 50 years, lives in northern Virginia and was invited to visit Buffalo on Thursday.

Ahmad called the Buffalo court all week to determine if the hearing was real. He learned that the date was wrong Wednesday and called the customer in his car to tell him to turn around – the customer was already two hours away on a journey of more than nine hours.

"For someone who is facing deportation, playing with court appointments is literally playing with his life," Ahmad told CBS News.