Seizure of Identification Documents by United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement Creates Hardships for Immigrant Families
By Chad McJannett, Children’s Legal Center
For almost two decades, United States Customs and Immigration Enforcement (ICE) has maintained a practice of confiscating passports, birth certificates, visas, and other essential documents from immigrants seeking to enter the United States. In 2006, then-acting director of ICE, John Torres, issued a memorandum outlining a policy of confiscating identification documents of migrants and set forth guidelines to determine when to return them.
Unfortunately, it has become increasingly common for immigration agents to seize and even destroy these documents. This practice has had devastating consequences for immigrants. Without these documents, immigrants are unable to legally work or travel, putting them and their families at risk of deportation. Furthermore, the seizure of documents is part of a larger pattern of abuse and mistreatment of immigrants by immigration agents. ICE has even refused to provide copies of these original documents which have been seized to immigrants including their passports and Consular IDs.
One example case of this practice by ICE involved a young pregnant mother, BL, who was the target of gang violence in her hometown. When the gang attacked BL and threatened to kill her, she fled Honduras and sought asylum in the United States. Immigration law permits an asylum seeker to apply for employment authorization while their asylum application is pending. However, she could not submit the application for employment authorization without identification because her Consular Identification had been confiscated. The Covid-19 pandemic caused the closure of many consulates making it impossible for BL to apply for a replacement document. BL was unable to work, unable to provide for her family, and could not enroll her children in school until she was able to obtain birth certificates from her home country of Honduras.
In another case, a family of four has encountered severe hardship due to having their documents confiscated. They were forced to flee their home after suffering assaults and harassment due to being indigenous and being members of the Christian faith.
A third example of this unlawful seizure policy involved MC, a mother of 2 children, who fled to the United States because she was kidnapped while conducting political polling and threatened with murder. Agents from the United States Customs and Border Patrol confiscated her passport and Consular Identification. Without any proof of identification, she struggled to obtain needed assistance for her children after arriving in the United States.
In another example case, a family of four fled to the United States when their daughter was threatened with kidnapping by a drug gang unless the family helped smuggle drugs. Their Mexican IDs were confiscated at the border. The family lives in fear of being sent back to Mexico because they lack identification documents and have had trouble obtaining medical care without appropriate documentation.
Children's Legal Center (CLC) filed a class action suit in February of 2022 representing 68 migrant individuals whose personal documents were confiscated by ICE and not returned. Children’s Legal Center asserts in its suit that the seizure of personal documents of identification, such as passports and birth certificates, violates due process and the Fourth Amendment by preventing these individuals from applying for work authorization and harming their chances of winning asylum because they cannot provide corroborating evidence of biographical information. The case is now in the discovery phase of the litigation. CLC received a grant in 2022 from the Barbara McDowell Foundation to support this litigation.