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Ruling Lets ICE Keep Making Courthouse Arrests in Massachusetts

Attorneys and judges say allowing ICE agents to make courthouse arrests deters crime victims and witnesses from coming to court

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U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents may now arrest undocumented immigrants at Massachusetts courthouses. The First Circuit court ruled Tuesday to overturn a preliminary injunction barring the practice. The suit was brought by two state district attorneys, who said the order made their jobs harder because it deterred crime victims and witnesses from coming to court. “Women have accepted near-fatal domestic abuse rather than going to court and risking civil arrest,” argued the plaintiffs’ lawyer David Zimmer. Tuesday’s ruling allows the arrests to continue pending further litigation. Courthouse News Service

In other national immigration news…

Remittances Under Covid-19 Thrive in Some Latin American Countries, Fall in Others

While the coronavirus has greatly affected America’s economy, some groups of immigrants from Latin America have been hurt more than others. Remittances for the first six months of 2020 were lower than the same period last year for Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, but they were up for Mexico and the Dominican Republic, according to an analysis of central bank data by the Pew Research Center. The six nations they examined are the birthplaces of about eight of 10 Latino immigrants living in the U.S. Mexico received 10.6 percent more in remittances during the first six months of the year, while El Salvador received 8 percent less. The Associated Press

Company Threatens Delinquent Loan Payees with Lawsuits

Silicon Valley-based subprime lender Oportun has sold itself as an ally to Latino immigrants living in the United States. It has built up a reputation as a friendlier and more humane alternative to payday lenders, and two weeks into the pandemic, it announced it would postpone payment due dates as long as customers notified the company in advance. But immigrants say they’ve still been sued for payments they couldn’t make during the pandemic. A ProPublica investigation found the company draws clients in, charges them high interest rates and routinely uses lawsuits to intimidate borrowers into paying again. ProPublica

Federal Judge Rules Daughter of Couple Born Via Surrogate is an American Citizen

A federal judge has ruled the daughter of a married gay couple who was born via surrogate in England has been an American citizen since birth and ordered the State Department to issue her a passport. U.S. District Judge Michael Brown wrote that the girl does not have to be biologically related to both her parents to be eligible for citizenship. Derek Mize and Jonathan Gregg filed a lawsuit in July 2019 after the State Department refused to acknowledge their daughter as a U.S. citizen because the department doesn’t recognize same-sex marriages. The Associated Press

Immigrant Detainees Stuck Without Power in Louisiana After Hurricane

Men at a Louisiana immigration jail pounded on the walls, pleading to be let outside. Their facility was left without power and filled with the stench of human waste after Hurricane Laura passed through the area. The guards let them out into the yard and power was restored, but advocates say jails across Louisiana mistreated detainees after the hurricane knocked out power in immigration jails last week. One facility was left without power for two days. Louisiana has become a hub for immigration detention facilities, and at least eight new immigration jails have opened in recent years. The Associated Press

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