Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers last week began standing inside and outside of immigration courts across the United States in an effort to detain certain migrants who are appearing for scheduled hearings. Immigration lawyers said ICE officers — from San Diego and Los Angeles to Boston and Miami — were targeting migrants shortly after their cases were dismissed by judges. Government lawyers are requesting that the cases be dismissed in order to place the migrants in expedited deportation proceedings.

ICE appears to be using the new strategy to place the apprehended migrants in deportation proceedings that can be fast-tracked and don’t require court hearings, an escalation of the Trump administration’s efforts to meet the president’s deportation goals.

“Dylan entered the United States with permission to seek asylum, and his detention robs him of the opportunity to seek that relief with the full protections offered to him under the law,” the New York Legal Assistance Group, an organization that provides free aid to low-income clients and is representing him, said in a statement. “He works, goes to school, has friends and was fully complying with immigration proceedings. All this does is disrupt communities and unnecessarily put people in chaotic and potentially harmful situations.” (nytimes.com)