Dada v. Witte (COVID 19 Habeas)
Immigration detention facilities have become a breeding ground for COVID-19 as the pandemic rages on. Immigration detention for vulnerable individuals has become a potential death sentence. This litigation on behalf of immigrants detained in five Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention centers in Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana seeks their immediate release from civil immigration detention.
NIPNLG filed the lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana along with the Center for Constitutional Rights, the Loyola Law Clinic, and the Law Offices of R. Andrew Free.
On April 6, the judge in the Eastern District of Louisiana dismissed the case on technical jurisdictional grounds without reaching the substantive questions in the case. On April 14, we refiled the case in the Western District of Louisiana along with a motion for a temporary restraining order.
Update:
WIN! The District Court judge in Louisiana, adopting the recommendation of the magistrate judge, on May 23, 2020 ordered the release of 14 out of 15 medically vulnerable migrant plaintiffs being held in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention, including one additional individual not previously included in the magistrate judge’s opinion of April 14, 2020. NIPNLG will continue fighting for everyone in ICE detention in need of immediate release.