A young Honduran immigrant — in Minnesota illegally but seeking asylum in the United States —couldn’t believe her good fortune Tuesday afternoon when she was released from jail in Sherburne County after 16 months detention.
Stepping outside, she marveled at the snow and worried about sunburn.
In an under-the radar-move to prepare for federal budget cuts scheduled to kick in Friday, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials are releasing several hundred people from immigrant detention facilities around the country this week. It’s not clear how many will be released in Minnesota.
“They told her, ‘It’s very expensive to hold you here,’’’ explained the Honduran woman’s attorney, Sarah Brenes of The Advocates for Human Rights, translating her clients’ words from Spanish to English. The woman talked only if we did not use her name.
The releases were unexpected.
Hearing unsubstantiated reports people were being released from detention, John Keller, executive director of the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota in St. Paul, messaged some 300 immigration attorneys in Minnesota and the region Tuesday morning asking his colleagues what they knew. Several answered they’d seen their clients released.
“Who knew the sequester could be good news?’’ said Keller, referring to the across-the-board budget cuts Congress has put in place in an effort to come up with a deficit reduction plan.
The Huffington Post last night was among the first to report the releases, which began Monday. According to Huffington, ICE spokeswoman Gillian Christensen had this to say: “In order to make the best use of our limited detention resources in the current fiscal climate and to manage our detention population under current congressionally mandated levels, ICE has directed field offices to review the detained population to ensure it is in line with available funding.”
MinnPost confirmed this afternoon of the release of low-risk undocumented immigrants.
Gillian Christensen, ICE’s deputy press secretary, issued this statement: “As fiscal uncertainty remains over the continuing resolution and possible sequestration, ICE has reviewed its detained population to ensure detention levels stay within ICE’s current budget.’’
Consequently, the statement goes on to say, ICE reviewed “several hundred cases” resulting in people being placed “on methods of supervision less costly than detention.”
By that, we’re advised, undocumented immigrants will be under supervised release and must periodically report in person to immigration officials and may be electronically monitored.
All, however, “remain in removal proceedings,’’ the statement says, stressing those released are not a threat to public safety.
After the unexpected release of her client, Brenes was working to help the woman, a mother of three, find a place to sleep tonight. The woman, convicted of illegal re-entry to the United States, had finished serving time for the federal criminal charge and was being held as an undocumented immigrant while she waits for a decsion on her request for asylum. She must report to ICE officials Wednesday.