Richmond immigration attorney debunks misinformation on ICE, speaks on activity in Virginia
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RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) -- A Richmond immigration attorney is breaking down what you need to know about federal immigration enforcement in Virginia, from debunking misinformation to explaining what rights you have when you interact with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
On Friday, Feb. 13, 8News spoke with Miriam Fisher, Richmond immigration attorney and CEO of Las Abogadas RVA, to debunk misinformation about immigration law, learn insights as to recent local enforcement efforts and share information about the public's rights regarding enforcement actions.
Fisher has 20 years of experience in immigration law.
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Regarding those who are detained in relation to their immigration status, ICE's own data from late January shows that the majority of those detained across both of Virginia's detention centers -- which are located in Caroline County and Farmville -- have no criminal convictions.
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Fisher explained that those statistics are in line with what her firm has seen locally and what she has seen on a national scale.
"The vast majority of people being detained under this administration are not being detained through criminal convictions," Fisher said.
In addition, TRAC Immigration has reported that most detainees who have any criminal convictions are guilty of minor traffic infractions, which are non-violent offenses.
Further, Fisher said the sweeping generalization many have made of immigrants as "illegal aliens" and "criminals" is not accurate. The violation of immigration law, in most cases, would carry a civil penalty.
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"This administration [the Trump administration] has been mischaracterizing or misidentifying immigrants as 'illegal aliens' and as criminals in many situations, where that's just not even plausibly the case," Fisher said.
Immigration itself is a civil matter, not criminal
It's important to note that committing an immigration violation does not necessarily make someone a criminal. Fisher said that, unless said violation is made under very specific circumstances, it is not a criminal offense.
Fisher explained that immigration is a civil body of law, not a criminal one.
"Being in the country without immigration status is not a crime," Fisher said. "The only crime that is associated with undocumented immigration status, typically, would be entering the country without authorization, and that's a misdemeanor -- however, there are a variety of situations in which our immigration laws actually allow people to do that for the purpose of filing [for] immigration status."
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Fisher compared the matter to building a shed without a permit. You could be subject to a fine or be forced to take the shed down, but the act of building the shed would typically not be considered a crime.
"There's very few other scenarios where an immigration violation would be a crime," Fisher said.
Common immigration circumstance requires entering with no documents
Fisher said one of the most common examples of legal immigration is seeking asylum. To do so, she explained, you have to make your way into the U.S. through some means.
"The U.S. code actually says that people can come here through any means and then seek asylum," Fisher said. "And, because you have to be physically present in the U.S. to seek asylum, if somebody doesn't have visa, the only for them would be to do that would be to either cross the border undetected or to cross the border, present themselves to Border Protection and then seek asylum that way."
In addition, Fisher said that asylum seekers cannot be considered "undocumented," as the process uses documentation for next steps.
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"Asylum seekers are actually following a legal procedure set forth in the United States code in a law passed by Congress that allows for that exact process, so there's just no universe where you can call that 'illegal' or 'undocumented,'" Fisher said. "In fact, filing for asylum is documentation that you file, and then in return, you get a work permit and a social security number."
Recent changes in ICE enforcement defy decades of precedent
Fisher explained that, during her two decades of work in immigration enforcement under multiple presidential administrations, there were enforcement expectations and patterns that could be followed.
"I've handled immigration cases and worked with immigrants under a number of different presidential administrations -- Republican, Democrat -- [with] different approaches," Fisher said. "By and large, in the past, you could anticipate what clients would be subject to enforcement."
She said that, throughout that time, enforcement consistently targeted those with serious criminal charges or convictions.
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"Despite the rhetoric today, it's always been the case that people with serious criminal charges or criminal convictions are subject to immigration enforcement," Fisher said. "It's always been the case that people who get a deportation order are subject to being deported. And ICE has existed for over 20 years. So that aspect of enforcement is already completely established in law and policy and was already in place."
However, under President Donald Trump's administration, Fisher said there's been a historic shift in how enforcement actions are carried out.
"What we're seeing now are just these very random arrests," Fisher said. "The best word I can use is 'random' or 'chaotic,' because for us, it's become very difficult to anticipate who's at risk and who's not. In Central Virginia, we haven't seen the sort of large-scale raid enforcement type of actions that we've seen in other parts of the country -- however, we have clients who live here in Virginia who have been detained in other parts of the country."
Instead of said large-scale raids, Central Virginia has seen smaller operations that appear to target neighborhoods or apartment complexes with predominantly Latino populations, per Fisher.
She explained that her firm has received reports of ICE claiming to run license plates to see who the vehicles are registered to and then taking a look at those registrants' immigration history.
Fisher said there has also appeared to be an increase in ICE opening cases that were previously closed. There are a variety of reasons to close an immigration case, including someone who initially lacks status, then obtains status through marriage or other means.
"But now, it seems that they're not really worried about the legality or the end game," Fisher said. "They're just kind of detaining people, putting people in removal proceedings and not even asking questions later -- they're just trying to deport everybody, and there doesn't seem to be any kind of adults in the room who are looking at the case and using discretion and saying 'Well, why would we put this person into deportation proceedings, because they're eligible for their green card?'"
Fisher called the efforts by ICE in opening previously closed cases a "huge waste of resources," as one part of the agency was working to give a person status while another works to take away their status and move toward deportation.
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"We can tell somebody what the law is, but if the government is not following the law, it's kind of anyone's guess what they're going to do," she said.
What are ICE's powers and its limitations?
Fisher reminded the public that ICE is bound by the Constitution. She said that agents are tasked with detaining those they reasonably suspect are in the country without documentation.
"ICE is the enforcement branch of a civil agency," Fisher said. "They're still bound by the Constitution, they're still bound by federal and state law. There's been a lot of misrepresentation of what their powers are. ICE has the authority to detain people if they reasonably suspect or have probable cause to believe that they are in the country without documentation."
In addition, when enforcing immigration, Fisher said ICE islimited to public spaces unless they have a judicial warrant and can then access private spaces.
Despite that, though, Fisher said she has yet to see a judicial warrant -- she has only seen administrative warrants.
"I've never seen ICE having a judicial warrant -- a warrant actually signed by a judge," Fisher said. "Every ICE warrant I've ever seen has just been signed by an official as an administrative warrant."
What are your rights when interacting with ICE?
As for what residents need to know, Fisher said you are not required to allow ICE into your home without a judicial warrant.
"ICE doesn't have any magical power, just because they're ICE, to go into those private areas," Fisher said.
In addition, she said you are not required to answer their questions.
Further, Fisher explained that U.S. citizens are not required to carry paperwork proving their citizenship and that the detainment of citizens is "obviously unlawful."
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In public spaces, Fisher said you have the right to record ICE agents, blow whistles nearby and record video freely -- even though recent deadly shootings have instilled fear that those actions are unlawful.
"Unfortunately, a lot of the activities or the actions about ICE that people are scared of now are not lawful," Fisher said. "In a lot of these scenarios, where people are being stopped or detained or shot, they're not doing anything wrong."
The public should be aware, though, that you should not obstruct an officer from enforcing, as it could be seen as impeding.
For more on immigration enforcement in Central Virginia, click here.
