Suffolk County was ordered to pay $112 million to hundreds of illegal aliens after a judge ruled they were ‘unlawfully detained’ by ICE.
US District Court Judge William F. Kuntz II, an Obama appointee, issued the ruling after an illegal from Guatemala living in Long Island filed a lawsuit claiming he was detained by ICE beyond his release date.
The judge ruled that the sheriff’s office in Long Island unlawfully held the illegal aliens since the state of New York doesn’t allow local law enforcement to do so.
The plaintiff was arrested in 2017 were police asked him about his immigration status.
According to PIX11, lawyers argued that the plaintiff’s cousin paid a $1,000 bail with the agreement that he would appear in immigration court yet he was never informed of the bail.
Police reportedly transferred the Guatemalan illegal to the Varick Street Detention Center in Manhattan and later transferred to a county jail in New Jersey.
The case ballooned after it became a class action lawsuit so now Suffolk County residents are on the hook for $112 million.
“This decision brings long-overdue accountability,” said plaintiffs’ attorney José Pérez, Deputy General Counsel at LatinoJustice PRLDEF. “The jury confirmed what we have argued all along, that Suffolk County’s actions trampled the basic due process rights guaranteed under the 14th Amendment.”
Excerpt from PIX11:
More than 600 immigrants will be awarded $112 million after a federal judge ruled they were unlawfully detained by ICE in Suffolk County, court documents show.
Suffolk County and the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Office were determined to be financially liable and responsible for violating the constitutional rights of 674 people who were held in county jails in 2017, even after posting their bail or resolving their cases, the judge ruled.
The ruling comes after a 34-year-old Long Island resident and an immigrant from Guatemala filed a complaint saying he was held in a Suffolk County jail beyond his scheduled release date for ICE’s administrative convenience, according to court documents.
The plaintiff was arrested in April 2017 in Central Islip, where Suffolk County police questioned him about his immigration status, his lawyers said.
Despite his cousin paying $1,000 bail under the agreement that the plaintiff would appear in immigration court, he was never informed that his bail had been paid and was instead transferred to the Varick Street Detention Center in Manhattan, the complaint said. He was later taken to the Bergen County Jail in New Jersey.
The post Suffolk County Ordered to Pay $112 Million to Hundreds of Illegal Aliens After Obama Judge Rules They Were ‘Unlawfully Detained’ by ICE appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.