Afghan family traveling to Washington and detained in Los Angeles asking for release
Source: KOMO News
LOS ANGELES (AP) An Afghan family of five who obtained special visas to relocate to the U.S. were detained by immigration officials when they arrived at Los Angeles International Airport on Thursday and have been in custody ever since, according to court records and their attorneys.
The mother, father and their three children, including a baby, arrived at LAX for a connecting flight to Washington state, where they planned to resettle. Instead, they were detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement "with absolutely no justification whatsoever," according to a federal court petition filed Saturday by the International Refugee Assistance Project seeking the family's release.
The petition argues that that the father worked for the U.S. government in Afghanistan and was able to obtain special immigrant visas along with his family after years of intense vetting. In addition to being detained, U.S. Customs and Border Protection has prevented attorneys from communicating with the family, according to the petition.
"The betrayal of this family by the U.S. government shocks the conscience," the petition said. Becca Heller, the director of the International Refugee Assistance Project, said Sunday that the father was being held at a detention center in Orange County. Though his wife and children initially were taken to a similar facility in Los Angeles, more recently they were being detained in a hotel, she said. "It's just a complete travesty," Heller said. "It would be if it were happening to anybody, but especially someone who spent years and years risking his life for the U.S."
Read more: http://komonews.com/news/local/afghan-family-traveling-to-wash-and-detained-in-los-angeles-asking-for-release
sinkingfeeling
(51,493 posts)SunSeeker
(51,797 posts)The whole family risked their lives to help us in Afghanistan - the father worked for the US Government in Afghanistan.
This is insane. Who will risk their lives for us now?
dhill926
(16,387 posts)ya fucking assholes...
iluvtennis
(19,905 posts)...wife/kids. WTF. Trump needs to burin in hell.
littlemissmartypants
(22,853 posts)Heartbreaking.
JI7
(89,287 posts)Fuck trump and his racist supporters
Eugene
(61,974 posts)Source: Reuters
Afghan family released after detention in Los Angeles
By Tori Richards | SANTA ANA
A family from Afghanistan detained on their arrival in Los Angeles last week despite holding special visas granted for the father's service to the U.S. government in that country has been released, their attorneys said Monday.
Lawyers for the family of five, who have not been publicly identified, said that it was still not clear to them why the father, mother and their three sons were taken into custody at Los Angeles International Airport on Thursday, interrogated and held for some 40 hours.
But attorney Robert Blume portrayed the detention as a mistake by U.S. immigration authorities, saying: "The government swung and missed on this one. They just got it wrong."
The family's detention came at a time of increased concern among immigrant rights advocates about tougher scrutiny of visitors as part of U.S. President Donald Trump's crackdown on immigration on national security grounds.
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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-immigration-afghan-idUSKBN16C0XD