Week Ahead in Immigration: Oct. 4, 2021

(Reuters) – Here are some upcoming events of interest to the immigration law community. All times are local unless stated otherwise.

Tuesday, Oct. 5

11 a.m. – A federal judge in Washington, D.C., will hold a status conference in a lawsuit by the Electronic Privacy Information Center seeking records involving U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s use of facial recognition technology. Specifically, EPIC wants ICE to disclose records related to its relationship with Clearview AI, a vendor of facial recognition services that maintains a database of images scraped from Facebook and other social media sites.

The case is Electronic Privacy Information Center v. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, No. 1:20-cv-03071. For EPIC: Enid Zhou and Jeramie Scott. For ICE: Michael Tilghman of the U.S. Department of Justice.

2 p.m. – A federal judge in Brownsville, Texas will hold a final pretrial conference in a Texas man’s lawsuit seeking a declaration that he is a U.S. citizen, more than two years after an appeals court revived his case. Juan Sandoval Lopez claims he was born in Texas, but was twice deported to Mexico for presenting a false birth certificate. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in 2019 said a judge was wrong to find that he lacked jurisdiction over the case because Sandoval’s citizenship had already been resolved in the removal proceedings. A one-day bench trial is scheduled for Oct. 18.

The case is Sandoval Lopez v. Tillerson, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, No. 1:17-cv-00137. For Sandoval Lopez: Jaime Diez of Jones Crane and Lisa Brodyaga. For the government: Christopher Pineda of the U.S. Department of Justice.

Wednesday, Oct. 6

3 p.m. – A federal judge in Boston will hold a status conference in the American Civil Liberties Union’s lawsuit seeking records on an alleged program of targeting natives of Mexico and certain Central American countries to be screened for gang involvement. The ALCU says the Department of Homeland Security during the Trump administration began profiling unaccompanied minors and citizens of Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala as potential gang members without any evidence of criminal activity.

The case is American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, No. 1:19-cv-12564. For the plaintiffs: Matthew Segal of the ACLU of Massachusetts. For DHS: Anita Johnson of the U.S. Department of Justice.

Friday, Oct. 8

2 p.m. – A federal judge in Manhattan will hold a status conference in a bid by environmental groups to force the disclosure of documents related to the planned construction of a private immigrant detention center in Evanston, Wyoming. The Natural Resources Defense Council and Sierra Club claim the Department of Homeland Security has withheld communications with private prison operators including CoreCivic Inc as well as environmental reviews of the potential facility site.

The case is WyoSayNo v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, No. 1:21-cv-05663. For WyoSayNo: Natalia Ospina of the Natural Resources Defense Council. For DHS: Rebecca Friedman of the U.S. Department of Justice.

Know of an event that could be included in an upcoming Week Ahead in Immigration? Contact Dan Wiessner at daniel.wiessner@thomsonreuters.com.

Daniel Wiessner

Dan Wiessner (@danwiessner) reports on labor and employment and immigration law, including litigation and policy making. He can be reached at daniel.wiessner@thomsonreuters.com.

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