SAN DIEGO — A Haitian family seeking asylum breathed a sigh of relief Friday after learning they wouldn’t be arrested when they left immigration court.
Zamor Philona and Saveur Sionis entered a San Diego immigration courtroom, nervous with their two daughters, Emily and Shelby. At times, their feet were shaking before they were called to appear before a judge.
The family is from Haiti, and after a few questions from Immigration Judge Amelia Anderson, they were given two months to find an attorney and make their case for asylum.
“They were very scared, especially this day, when they know that there could be a possibility of being detained and get separated from the family,” said Olivier Renard, a volunteer who is helping the family and translated for ABC 10News.
On Friday, a federal judge in Washington temporarily blocked the Trump administration from putting migrants like Zamor and Saveur in fast-track deportation proceedings known as expedited removal.
In recent months, the government has used a controversial tactic to drive up deportation numbers.
It works like this: when a migrant shows up for a routine immigration court appearance, they learn their case has been dismissed. When they leave the courtroom, ICE is waiting and makes an arrest.
U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb, a Biden appointee, said the practice was illegal and noted the immigrants were paroled into the country to be given the chance to make their asylum claims.
'They played by the rules'
“In a world of bad options, they played by the rules. Now, the government has not only closed off those pathways for new arrivals but changed the game for parolees already here, restricting their ability to seek immigration relief and subjecting them to summary removal despite statutory law prohibiting the executive branch from doing so,” she wrote.
The ruling comes after the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights sued the government after migrants who entered the San Ysidro border were later arrested by ICE when they showed up at immigration court.
“This is a huge win for the process of parole for the rule of law for many, many, many people, hundreds of thousands of people around the country that were very fearful of this,” said Carl Bergquist, general counsel for the non-profit, in an interview from Toledo.
The attorney said the ruling protects paroled migrants from countries including Ukraine, Afghanistan, Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela who were admitted under the Biden administration.
“Now they don't have to fear being disappeared from one day to the next.”
DHS says judge is ignoring Supreme Court
Bergquist cautioned that although ICE can no longer put the migrants in expedited removal, they could still be detained, and he stressed that migrants who were not paroled into the country are still at risk.
“If they don't have parole, they could arrest them to put them in detention, but not to deport them.”
The government is expected to appeal the ruling and criticize it on Friday.
"Judge Cobb is flagrantly ignoring the United States Supreme Court, which upheld expedited removals of illegal aliens by a 7-2 majority. This ruling is lawless and won’t stand,” said Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin in a statement.
Back outside immigration court in San Diego, Renard said the family wanted to thank the judge for giving them a chance at the American dream.
“They are very happy. I can tell with the father and also the kids because it was a huge pressure. So, they were really scared. I mean, his partner herself, she was sick this morning.”
