Sign-On Letter for Matter of Saysana on Mandatory Detention

From the NYU Immigration Clinic

A letter to Attorney General Holder has been drafted, requesting that his Department abandon, overturn, or otherwise cease applying a 2008 BIA decision, “Matter of Saysana.”  The Saysana decision expanded the scope of mandatory detention to noncitizens with removable offenses committed prior to 1996, who have had *any* kind of contact with the criminal justice system since then, including arrests where all charges were dismissed, arrests for non-removable offenses, or even traffic stops.  Matter of Saysana sweeps into mandatory detention individuals with old convictions who by definition have been in this country for over ten years, and who have not committed a removable offense in that time.

This letter grew out of 2nd Circuit habeas litigation by the Immigrant Defense Project and the NYU Immigrant Rights Clinic, litigation which seems to be at a crossroads after the government experienced the most recent series of losses in the courts.  We hope to use this time to apply even more pressure to the Department of Justice to abandon Saysana, by demonstrating the enormous amount of opposition to this expansive use of mandatory detention.

Any organization wishing to see and sign on to the letter should contact Meredith Fortin at mjf367@nyu.edu.   Please supply contact information for your organization (Name, title, email address, and mailing address) as we plan to add that information for each signatory.

Please let us know by THURSDAY, JANUARY 28th, AT NOON if you are willing to sign on.

Thank you for your support.

Meredith Fortin and Jorge M. Castillo

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