South Florida Attorneys Bring Help For Migrant Kids That Have To Face U.S. Courts On Their Own – WLRN

By MADELINE FOX • AUG 8, 2019 South Florida facilities for unaccompanied minors who crossed the U.S. border have loomed large in the debate over the treatment of the youngest immigrants. Several Democratic presidential candidates visited the now-emptied Homestead detention facility in the days surrounding the first Democratic debates. The removal of Homestead’s last remaining children from the facility over the weekend marked the end …

Immigrant-Rights Group Says ICE Is Withholding Info On Deported Children – MIAMI NEW TIMES

JERRY IANNELLI | AUGUST 7, 2019 | 9:00AM In January, Americans for Immigrant Justice — one of the most prominent immigrant-rights activist and legal groups in Florida — filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request with the federal government for what sounded, at least at the time, like basic information. The group wanted to know how the U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) …

DHS Sued For Info On Teens Transferred To Ice Custody At 18 – LAW 360

By Carolina Bolado Law360 (August 6, 2019, 3:06 PM EDT) — A Miami-based legal aid organization has sued the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for failing to cough up documents about the procedures for children who “age out” of custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement and are transferred to ICE detention. Americans for Immigrant Justice Inc. filed suit …

MIGRANT MENTAL HEALTH CRISIS SPIRALS IN ICE DETENTION FACILITIES – POLITICO

BY RENUKA RAYASAM 07/21/2019 06:54 AM EDT Federal inspectors visiting a California migrant detention center made a shocking discovery last year: Detainees had made nooses from bedsheets in 15 of 20 cells in the facility they visited. The inspection revealed the extent of a largely unseen mental health crisis within the growing population of migrants who are being held in detention …

SOUTH MIAMI SUES TO BLOCK SANCTUARY CITY BAN, SAYS IT WILL DIVIDE POLICE AND RESIDENTS – MIAMI HERALD

BY JULIA INGRAM JULY 16, 2019 10:20 PM The city of South Miami and nine other organizations on Tuesday sued Gov. Ron DeSantis and Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody challenging Florida’s new law banning sanctuary cities and requiring local law enforcement to comply with federal immigration policies. But South Miami, a city of approximately 12,000, accounts for a tiny fraction …

SOUTH MIAMI LEADS FIRST CHALLENGE TO FLORIDA LAW BANNING ‘SANCTUARY’ CITIES – WLRN

By DANIEL RIVERO • JUL 16, 2019 The first legal challenge to Florida’s controversial law banning so-called “sanctuary” cities and counties was filed on Tuesday against Governor Ron DeSantis and Attorney General Ashley Moody in the Southern District of Florida. Leading the federal lawsuit is the City of South Miami. The new law SB 168 requires local police departments, sheriff’s offices and Corrections Departments …

FLORIDA SUED OVER SANCTUARY POLICY BAN – FOX 35

Posted Jul 16 2019 12:39PM EDT APOPKA, Fla. (FOX 35 ORLANDO) – The city of South Miami and a coalition of immigrant advocates sued Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Tuesday over a new law that forces local law enforcement agencies to cooperate with federal immigration officials. Activists representing farmworkers, Haitian immigrants, and asylum seekers warned the new law banning “sanctuary” policies is …