Advocates Sue ICE for Targeting Sanctuary Leaders With Retaliatory Fines

Immigrant rights groups don’t want the Trump administration to continue targeting sanctuary activists—all of whom are women—with excessive, six-figure fines. Austin Sanctuary Network (ASN), Free Migration Project (FMP), Grassroots Leadership and the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) filed a lawsuit on February 26 against the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE), the U.S. Department of the Treasury (DOT), and the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) in the Southern District of New York, according to a group emailed statement from the organizations.  

Advocates are demanding access to documents outlining how and why the government is imposing outrageous fees on activists, especially because they appear to be retaliatory in nature, says the emailed statement. “The need for this information is extremely urgent, as massive fines in the hundreds of thousands of dollars have been levied against several women in sanctuary who have spoken out against these fines and U.S. immigration policy,” CCR said in another statement posted in their web site.