April 07, 2021
A class of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees at a Massachusetts jail asked a federal judge to approve a settlement Tuesday after the litigation nearly emptied the facility of people being held by ICE during the COVID-19 pandemic.
March 17, 2021
The First Circuit on Wednesday refused to disturb a Massachusetts federal court's decision denying bail to several immigration detainees convicted of violent crimes, finding that it was reasonable to decide the detainees still belonged behind bars in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
June 18, 2020
A federal judge sharply criticized the government Thursday for an "off the wall" argument in opposition to bailing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees from a Massachusetts jail to reduce the facility's population during the COVID-19 crisis.
June 03, 2020
A Massachusetts federal judge would like to know approximately how many U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees a state jail can hold while maintaining social distancing protocols during the COVID-19 pandemic, asking both the government and a class of inmates to weigh in during a hearing Wednesday.
May 12, 2020
A Massachusetts federal judge on Tuesday hammered U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and county detention officials for "cavernous holes" in their COVID-19 mitigation strategy — from blanket bail refusals to weak testing and contact tracing plans — calling it evidence of "deliberate indifference" to detainees' health risks.
May 07, 2020
Bristol County detention officials in Massachusetts and others have likely violated the rights of immigration detainees in their care and are showing deliberate indifference to the devastating risks of COVID-19 within their facility, a federal judge ruled from the bench Thursday, according to lawyers in the case.
May 05, 2020
Lawyers for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees seeking release amid the coronavirus pandemic deposed a controversial Massachusetts sheriff responsible for conditions at the county jail, after gaining permission from a federal judge.
April 16, 2020
A Massachusetts federal judge hearing bail petitions for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees told prosecutors he wouldn't stop short of hearing all their cases just because the government says adequate social distancing is possible at the Bristol County jail holding them, calling the stay request a "luxury."
April 09, 2020
A Massachusetts federal judge has certified a class of immigrant detainees seeking to be released from a county jail that allegedly lacks adequate protections against the coronavirus, saying that we are now in "a world brought to its knees by the pandemic."
April 03, 2020
A federal judge agreed Friday to release a handful of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees, citing the urgent need to reduce the Massachusetts jail population amid the COVID-19 pandemic and vowing to review 10 cases per day as part of a lawsuit brought by civil rights groups.