Pending

Six Maryland families targeted by a cruel “bait and switch” tactic by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), or who fear falling victim to it, seek to form a class action lawsuit against the practice of arresting and detaining immigrants at marriage interviews that are supposed to be a protected part of the process for immigrants married to U.S. citizens to obtain lawful immigration status. Instead, ICE officials are deceptively inviting immigrants into their office and then snatching them when they complete the first step of becoming a Green Card holder as the spouse of a U.S. citizen. The families’ experience makes clear there is an unlawful pattern of trickery by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), in violation of Constitutional and statutory protections established for immigrant families seeking legal status.
 
Elmer and Alyse Sanchez, Jean Claude Nana and Amira Abbas Abdalla, Jose Carlos and Olivia Aldana Martinez, Misael and Theresa Rodriguez Peña, Mwiti and Tatyana Murithi, and Eric and Bibiana Ndula seek to form a separate class action challenging ICE’s bait-and-switch practice.
 
The immigration process that these Maryland families are trying to use the “stateside waiver process” — a lengthy and complicated immigration procedure available to immigrants with deportation orders to receive a Green Card as the spouse of a U.S. citizen. The first step is to file a form I-130 petition, which necessitates a marriage interview where an immigration officer assesses the bona fides of the petitioners’ marriage to ensure it was not entered into for any improper purpose. Then, the immigrant must obtain various waivers to restrictions on re-entry, exit the U.S. and obtain the proper paperwork from a U.S. consulate abroad. With visa in hand, the immigrant then returns to the U.S. and may enter as a legal permanent resident. The whole process takes years to complete, so federal immigration laws and regulations created the possibility of completing the necessary paperwork “stateside”, so that the immigrant does not have to wait abroad for approval of all the forms. These regulations turned a years-long family separation into a matter of weeks or months.

Blog: "Inside Detention Camps: A True Story" (August 8, 2019)
Read

The ACLU of Maryland is currently litigating two legal cases related to ICE's cruel “bait and switch” tactic. Read about Lin v. Nielsen here.

Taking action to protect their right to a free public school education, guaranteed to them under the Maryland Constitution, students in Prince George’s County filed a lawsuit challenging mandatory fees for summer school classes required for students to advance in school and to graduate. The students’ lawsuit, brought against the Prince George’s County School Board, seeks a preliminary injunction to lift summer school fees for this summer.

The Constitution of Maryland establishes the mandate for free public schools. The Maryland Court of Appeals has interpreted this provision as requiring schools to “be open to all without expense.” However, Prince George’s County has a long and unfortunate history of denial of educational opportunity, particularly to students who are Black or poor. Now, by denying indigent students the opportunity to attend summer school classes if they cannot afford them, PGCSB is violating the explicit terms of the Maryland Constitution.

PRESS RELEASE: Prince George’s Students Fight for Right to Public Education, Challenging Fees for Required Summer School (June 13, 2019)
READ

PRESS RELEASE: Prince George’s Students Fighting for Right to Public Education Ask Judge to Consider COVID-19 Implications (April 28, 2020) 
Read

UPDATE

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Prince George's County is providing summer school on a remote basis only, and agreed to waive all fees for all students.  The parties agreed to dismiss the challenge as moot. An agreement was reached in early June 2020 and a motion to dismiss was submitted on June 25.

Women Against Private Police have requested review in Anne Arundel County Circuit Court of a State Board of Elections (SBE) decision blocking them from bringing before the voters a bill authorizing creation of a private police force at Johns Hopkins University. The group, represented by the ACLU of Maryland and the Public Justice Center, challenges SBE’s rejection of their petition and makes clear that the subject of the bill is the creation of the police force — not an unrelated spending measure exempt from referendum challenge.

Press Release 5/1/19