Denver’s immigration court system is violating the First Amendment and federal law by obstructing access to court hearings and intimidating members of the public, according to the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado.
ACLU Colorado said Denver Immigration Court recently implemented restrictions that “significantly obstruct and limit public and attorney access to immigration proceedings,” according to a letter the organization sent to Assistant Chief Immigration Judge Matthew Kaufman.
Kaufman is assigned to both Aurora and Denver.
“Restricting and intimidating legal observers, immigration attorneys and other members of the public is an attack on the rule of law,” Legal Director of ACLU Colorado Tim Macdonald stated in a news release. “It undermines public trust in our immigration courts and further emboldens the Trump administration to continue its reckless anti-immigration agenda.”
The “obstructive tactics” noted by ACLU Colorado in the letter include:
Handcuffing and detaining legal observers without justification Denying legal observers entry to the courthouse without explanation Preventing attorneys from advising litigants in the courthouse Preventing legal observers from taking notes on information in publicly posted dockets Barring legal observers from conversing quietly in the hallway, “even though quiet and nondisruptive conversation has been permitted for years” Removing long-standing benches from the court hallways Requiring legal observers and attorneys to either sit for the entire docket or be barred from the courtroom entirely, including blocking people from entering the courtroom after the docket has started Preventing people from entering the courtroom because of “space constraints,” despite visibly empty seats in the roomThese restrictions directly oppose the First Amendment, federal law and policies from the Executive Office for Immigration Review, ACLU Colorado wrote in the letter.
Neither the Executive Office for Immigration Review nor Denver Immigration Court responded to requests for comment.
“The cases heard at immigration court are profoundly consequential for the families impacted and the general public,” Emma Mclean Riggs, ACLU of Colorado’s senior staff attorney, said in a statement. “Every day, judges decide whether or not to separate families, send people into an increasingly lawless detention system or effectively banish people to countries they have no memory of. This powerful court must not operate in the shadows.”
Immigration court hearings are open to the public, with limited exceptions, as specified in law, according to the Executive Office for Immigration Review.
Those exceptions include when a case involves a protection order, an abused spouse or child, the Violence Against Women Act or asylum, according to the office.
National security concerns do not override the public’s access right to immigration removal proceedings, ACLU Colorado officials said, citing a Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling. Open and publicly accessible courthouses are a longstanding right under the First Amendment, the letter continues.
“With respect to the restrictions on attorney speech, in places like the Denver Immigration Court, the government may only impose restrictions on speech that are ‘reasonable in light of the purpose of the forum and viewpoint neutral’,” ACLU Colorado wrote, citing a 10th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling. “When the government targets ‘particular views taken by speakers on a subject,’ it engages in impermissible viewpoint discrimination in violation of the First Amendment.”
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“These court proceedings must lawfully remain open to the public, including legal observers, community members and members of the press, and attorneys must be permitted to practice inside the courthouse without government interference,” ACLU Colorado wrote. “We request that the Court immediately do everything in its power to uphold longstanding constitutional principles, including open public access to immigration hearings and the independence of the bar.”
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