By Julia Marnin, The Sacramento Bee
The Division of Homeland Safety says immigration officers are arresting accused criminals, the “worst of the worst.” However a federal lawsuit argues authorities are usually jailing and deporting immigrants who’re survivors of human trafficking, home abuse and different crimes.
The lawsuit filed in Los Angeles federal courtroom on Oct. 14 says {that a} new U.S. Immigration and Customized Enforcement coverage disregards authorized protections beforehand established by Congress to guard immigrant crime survivors and permits ICE to detain and deport them even after they have been granted formal permission to remain within the U.S.
ICE can also be concentrating on immigrant crime survivors who’ve pending purposes for protections, in response to a 76-page grievance.
“The 2025 guidance reverses course from decades of agency practice under which immigration agencies generally refrained against enforcement against survivors of serious crime, unless warranted by adverse factors,” attorneys for the lawsuit wrote within the grievance.
In keeping with the lawsuit, ICE’s new coverage violates measures that have been put in place by Congress to permit immigrant crime survivors to pursue authorized standing below the Violence Towards Ladies Act, the “U visa,” and the “T visa.”
The Violence Towards Ladies Act permits home violence survivors to petition for immigrant visas, the grievance notes. The U visa lets victims of significant crimes who assist authorities within the investigation of these crimes apply for authorized standing. The T visa grants authorized standing, often known as “survivor-based benefits,” to labor or intercourse trafficking survivors.
Plaintiff Jackie Merlos, 48, utilized for a U visa, then obtained permission to remain within the U.S. in December 2024 after she and her husband have been held at gunpoint exterior their house in Portland, Oregon in June 2023, the grievance says.
Merlos, who’s from Honduras, has lived within the U.S. for 22 years and is a mom of 4 U.S. citizen kids, a 7-year-old and 9-year-old triplets, in response to the grievance.
She is on deferred motion standing, which means she is allowed within the U.S. for a sure time frame, the grievance says.
Regardless of this, ICE is detaining her on the Northwest ICE Processing Heart in Tacoma, Washington, and refusing to launch her from its custody, in response to her attorneys.
Merlos has been in immigration detention since June 2025, when she had a household reunion together with her mother and father, who have been visiting from Honduras on a visa, and her sister’s household, at a park close to the Canadian border, in response to the grievance.
U.S. Customs and Border Safety arrived on the park and detained everybody, together with Merlos, her kids and her 71-year-old mom, in response to the grievance.
CBP let Merlos’ sister, who legally lives in Canada, go a day later, the grievance says.
Merlos and her kids have been detained collectively in CBP custody for 2 weeks earlier than she was individually transferred to ICE custody in July, in response to the submitting.
In an announcement, Merlos stated: “As the agent was processing us, as my children were sobbing, he said to us, ‘Do you know why you’re here? Because you are a criminal.’”
Merlos stays detained, with out her kids, and fears her husband has since been deported, the grievance says.
Her kids are actually being cared for by a good friend, in response to the Nationwide Immigration Legislation Heart, which is advocating for her launch.
“Thanks to immense public pressure and a community that refused to stay silent, we not only stopped Jackie’s deportation and freed her children, but we also secured a ruling that there is no legal basis for ICE to detain or deport Jackie,” Dexter stated in an announcement.
“However, Jackie’s fight is not over,” Dexter added.
Merlos and the opposite plaintiffs within the lawsuit are additionally represented by Public Counsel, La Raza Centro Authorized and the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights.
The lawsuit seeks to safe the discharge for all plaintiffs in ICE custody, and for the return of plaintiffs who’ve been faraway from the U.S.
“Now, because of this administration’s unlawful actions, immigrants are not reporting violent crimes, including domestic violence, rape, trafficking, and assault, out of fear of being turned over to the deportation machine,” Rebecca Brown, a supervising lawyer in Public Counsel’s Immigrants’ Rights Mission, stated in an announcement.
“Worse still, survivors are being separated from their families — and in some cases being sent straight back to their abusers,” Brown added.
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Initially Revealed: October 21, 2025 at 2:10 PM EDT
