(OSV News) -- Attorney Zaira Solano set the tone for the webinar "Immigration 101 for Ministry: Tools to Support Those on the Journey" by highlighting the increasingly dire immigration crisis that the United States is undergoing.
"The current state of immigration law is the toughest I've seen in my 14 years of practice, and the toughest that some of my colleagues -- who have been around longer than me in this country -- have seen," Solano, founder of Solano Immigration Law Firm based in Doraville, Georgia, said as she started her presentation the afternoon of June 11.
Hosted by the Catholic Prison Ministries Coalition, which supports ministries and faith-based outreach for individuals affected by incarceration and detention, the webinar provided discussions on the process of detention and potential deportation, resources to aid detainees and strategies for providing meaningful support.
Raids by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, have intensified in the last months, with agents now being allowed to make arrests in sensitive locations, including schools and churches, and leading to family separation and migrant busing, Solano noted. However, while there has been an increase in executive orders in recent administrations, she went on to say, Congress has failed to pass comprehensive immigration reform since 2000.
Regarding the basics of removal proceedings, Solano said that two parties are involved in the process: "the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) against the person who is in the United States without legal status or who has violated immigration laws."
"Above that, we're supposed to have what's a neutral, unbiased immigration judge that is making the final decision in the case," she added.
The complex process of a deportation case officially begins with the DHS, which, having detained a person, files a notice to appear to the immigration judge. While Solano said that a removal proceeding and a criminal proceeding share similarities, there is a key difference: "Removal proceedings are civil in nature, they are not criminal. So, the end result of a deportation case is not jail time or probation; it's (whether) your application (for 'relief from removal') is granted or denied. And if your application is granted, that means you get to stay in the United States; if it's denied, that means you need to leave the United States through deportation, and ICE will remove you."
The Catholic Prison Ministries Coalition's webinar and Solano's expertise are timely. According to data collected by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, as of June 1, the number of people detained in ICE facilities surpassed 50,000 individuals -- the most detainees since 2019. The TRAC report also noted that 43.7% of the people held in ICE detention "have no criminal record" while many others have "minor offenses, including traffic violations."
The data comes amid protests against ICE raids, which, having started in Los Angeles after raids on June 6, are now spreading across the United States.
Catholic social teaching on immigration balances three interrelated principles -- the right of persons to migrate in order to sustain their lives and those of their families, the right of a country to regulate its borders and control immigration, and a nation's duty to regulate its borders with justice and mercy.
The church in the U.S. supports the protection of migrants' basic human rights and dignity and has been calling for a series of reforms to a broken immigration system, which include an "earned legalization program, a temporary worker program with appropriate worker protections, and reductions in waiting times in family-based immigration categories," as stated in the U.S. bishops' website.
During the June 11 webinar, Solano went on to explain that there are options for immigration relief for different populations, including people with a misdemeanor conviction, who can apply to the immigration judge for cancellation of removal, asylum or withholding of removal, and a variety of waivers; and survivors, who, depending of the crimes of which they have been victims, can qualify for VAWA, a petition from someone who has suffered physical or emotional abuse by a spouse, parent, or child above age 21; a U visa for victims of domestic violence and assault who cooperate with law enforcement; and a T visa for victims of trafficking, to name a few.
The VAWA visa is a provision of the Violence Against Women Act, first passed in 1994 and signed into law by President Bill Clinton.
"The biggest difference between a VAWA and the U visa … is that the aggressor, the person who causes harm to the immigrant, their legal status is completely irrelevant" for the latter, while, for VAWA, the aggressor is a U.S. citizen or permanent resident, Solano explained.
Given the myriad situations involving immigrants, Solano advised those in ministry and volunteers of faith-based outreach to encourage the people with whom they work to seek immigration legal counsel.
Following Solano's presentation, the floor was opened for questions from webinar participants, answered by Tonia Maglione, an immigration attorney at Solano Immigration Law Firm. In response to a question about the laws and regulations regarding the right to visit someone in an ICE facility, Maglione suggested reaching out to the detention center.
"Most of these detention centers have an official point of contact that you can find directly on the website of the detention center where your client is detained," she said, adding: "Take into consideration that each person, when detained, is assigned an immigration officer. Most of the time, to allow you visitation, you do not need to reach (out) to the immigration officer …, you just need to reach out to the person in charge of the visitation program."
If the person visiting is a minister who wants to support the client, Maglione suggested sending "a letter from the organization you're part of, showing that you're in ministry."
Another participant posed the question of whether naturalized citizens should be concerned, to which Maglione answered that "Naturalized citizens are entitled to the same rights as a United States citizen who acquired citizenship at birth. There is no distinction."
