Drury University graduate Alexis Dutt, who works as an immigration attorney in the Minneapolis area, spoke about her job and the recent crackdown on undocumented immigrants in the U.S. at Drury’s Olin Library Friday. It was a program sponsored by the university's Meador Center for Politics and Citizenship.
Dutt works with families and those seeking humanitarian and family-based relief through the immigration process at Karam Law in the Twin Cities. She said she believes the goal of the current crackdown on undocumented people in the U.S. to cause uncertainty and to make people give up.
She told a story of helping a client file an asylum application. They have work authorization, she said, and are "doing everything right." But less than three weeks ago, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents broke down her client's door, according to Dutt, and took them to a detention facility.
"They didn't have any sort of criminal background," she said. "Nothing changed from the time that they came to the border. Within 45 minutes, they called me. I filed what's called a habeas corpus petition, which is, in Latin I think, bring forth the body or bring the body. And...a lot of times it's used in criminal settings when people are being unlawfully detained in Minnesota. And right now, we're using it for immigration detainees."
Her client was eventually released, but she called the whole process “a waste of time."
"(It's) only made necessary because of the situation of a goal to cause fear," she said.
That client was fortunate to have an immigration attorney. Many undocumented immigrants, she said, do not. She said national statistics show that, on average, only about 20 to 30% are represented in immigration court.
Asylum seekers and refugees
Many come to the U.S. seeking asylum based on past persecution or fear of future persecution due to race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership in a particular social group. But Dutt said asylum is "facing a lot of attacks right now." She said when a person seeks asylum, they have permission to be in the U.S. until they receive a decision on their application. For many years, she said, people have been largely left alone until they receive that decision. But she said, during the Trump administration, people are being arrested and pressured to give up. Many of those who are picked up by ICE don't speak English and don't have a lawyer, so they don't know what they are agreeing to. In some cases, she said, a paper they've signed unknowingly gives permission for federal officials to send them out of the country.
Refugees are different from asylum seekers. They are resettled in the U.S., typically because of an agreement with the United Nations and often after waiting years outside of the country to be allowed in. And they are green card holders. But Dutt said she's seen refugees get detained by ICE. She said she recently talked to a couple that was detained by ICE "for hours." She advised them to carry their passports with them. "They're like, 'no, Alexis. I did that. I showed them my passport, and the ICE officer said, how am I supposed to know if that's real?' Detained them for hours," she said. "So, I mean, refugees on top of that are being detained even after going through all of those hoops, and so it's really discouraging to see."
The Trump administration has said repeatedly that the undocumented people it's picking up are criminals, but Dutt said, in many cases, that's not true.
"Of the dozens and dozens of people I know who have been arrested in the last month," she said, "exactly one of them has a criminal record."
Advising people how to stay safe
Because of the situation that unfolded in the Twin Cities where two U.S. citizens were shot and killed by ICE agents, Dutt spends a lot of time talking to clients about how to stay safe.
"Most of the time, I'm advising clients in a way of I want you to be safe when you walk away from that interaction and how horrible that that's what I'm having to tell them, right?" she said. "Like it's not like I want you to protect your rights; I want — I can't even really get to that because I just don't want them to be harmed."
Hope for change
Dutt said one thing that gives her hope that things will improve in the Twin Cities is federal judges "who are holding ICE accountable and making them actually explain themselves and justify the detention."
She knows detention is necessary in some cases. But she said her clients tell her they face often arduous journeys to get to the U.S. because of its respect for mankind and for immigrants who come here for a better life. She said what’s been happening in recent months is a "lack of regard" for humanity.
The current system weighs heavily in favor of the government, according to Dutt, and she would like to see that system, which she said is designed to make the immigration process very difficult, be reformed.
But she said she's been encouraged by protests, which she believes are working, and by people who understand what she's up against. She's had neighbors bring her baked goods and people from her alma mater reach out to check in with her.
"It's not going to be one fix," she said. "And I think that's been made very clear over the last few weeks is that it's the federal court's actions and the neighbors showing up and helping."
