This week in immigration news – February 13, 2020

These are the stories we’re following this week:

Immigration detention hotline restored after ICE shut it down

In Orange is the New Black’s final season, there are several storylines that center on characters in an immigrant detention center. In one storyline, a character is deported by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) after passing out the number to a hotline run by the nonprofit Freedom for Immigrants.

After the episodes aired, the hotline was shut down by ICE in real life. However, on Tuesday, ICE was ordered to restore the hotline, a decision that Freedom for Immigrants praised as a win for the immigrants that they serve.

Maryland to prohibit law enforcement to work with ICE

Policymakers in Maryland are considering a bill that would prohibit law enforcement from entering into agreements with ICE.

Maryland currently has three counties that participate in these agreements. Fredrick County’s Sheriff Chuck Jenkins claims that crime is down because of the policy, Delegate Wanika Fisher criticized that view, saying that crime happens everywhere, regardless of a person’s immigration status.

ICE shot a man in the face while trying to deport another man

Last Thursday, ICE officers shot a man in the face as they were trying to deport another man.

The shooting victim is Erick Diaz, whose mother is in a relationship with Gasper Avendano-Hernandez, who ICE was attempting to detain. Diaz is in the country legally. Critics of the agency charge that this is another incident of it being detrimental to public safety.