ICE bans two lawyers from family detention center as

dispute over access to immigrants deepens

SAN ANTONIO (AP) Attorney Kim Hunter received a letter earlier this month from immigration
authorities telling her she'd been banned from a family detention center in South Texas for being
"belligerent" in demanding the release of her clients one late July night.
Andrew Free learned Aug. 3 that he'd also been banished from the country's largest such facility
after the attorney marched into a courtroom trailer 10 days before to ask why U.S. Immigration and
Customs Enforcement officials were meeting with his clients without his knowledge.
ICE says the two violated visitation standards, but a coalition of immigration attorneys says the bans
are unprecedented and is fighting to rescind them as part of its ongoing effort to improve access to
the immigrant mothers and their children who are in the U.S. without legal permission and being
held at the facility.

"I have never encountered the constant

unrelenting drum beat of ways to interfere with
access," said Hunter, who arrived in late July
from St. Paul, Minnesota, to perform pro bono
work.
She is one of about 500 lawyers from around the
country who have volunteered a week at a time at
the 50-acre, 2,400-bed facility in Dilley, which
currently holds some 1,000 immigrants. The center has faced intense political and legal opposition
after the U.S. government opened it and another Texas center in response to tens of thousands of
Central American mothers and children who illegally crossed the U.S.-Mexico border last year. On
Friday, a federal judge ordered the rapid release of the children, along with their mothers when
possible something lawyers for Homeland Security had been fighting and could appeal.
The volunteer attorneys say their representation is vital in helping the women pass interviews that
are the first hurdle in seeking asylum. Stephen Manning, an attorney involved in the pro-bono
projects, says that of the 5,000 immigrants who've had representation, he's seen only 10 denials.
But the lawyers say immigration authorities are increasingly hindering their ability to represent
clients. They gave examples such as citing security concerns as a way to deny access to counsel,
limiting access to courtrooms, keeping out psychologists who've received clearance and sudden rule
changes, such as not allowing cellphones to be left in lockers, meaning the lawyers must keep the
phones locked away in hot cars.
ICE officials did not respond to all of the lawyers' allegations, but said those psychologists had their
access revoked because they were "conducting an unauthorized survey."
ICE spokeswoman Gillian Christensen said the agency is in "frequent communication" with lawyers
for the immigrants, responds to their concerns and allows them access not given at other ICE
facilities because of the "sensitive and unique nature of detaining families."

But visitation privileges can be suspended when standards are violated. ICE said Free and Hunter
broke rules outlined in a handbook, prompting the actions that the lawyers say are the first involving
family detention access.
The agency alleges Free "physically inserted" himself between federal officers and detainees, and,
on another occasion, placed his hands on an officer as she tried to walk away.
Free, from Nashville, Tennessee, says the ban is retaliatory. Prior to his ban, he said, he called out
ICE officials for summoning mothers into courtrooms with no judges or lawyers present and telling
them they would be released with ankle monitors regardless of whether they intended to pay their
bonds.
Hunter says she was banned after arguing with ICE officials about why her clients hadn't been
released from the facility after the officials had been given several hours' notice. Though the five
mothers Hunter represented and their six children were finally released at 11 p.m., she stayed to
advocate for a family who had driven from Waco that afternoon and were waiting for their relatives,
who never walked free that night
ICE alleges Hunter also entered a closed visitation area unescorted, interfered with a shift briefing
and "became belligerent" in demanding releases of her clients.
Both attorneys say they will fight to regain access, and they are being backed by the American
Immigration Lawyers Association, a nonprofit organization leading the pro bono project at Dilley.
Crystal Williams, who just stepped down as the association's executive director, said that if rules
were broken, they'd been "made up then and there."
"You can't just ban attorneys," she said, "for doing their jobs."
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