Civil Rights Orgs Sue Dept. of Homeland Security & NY ICE Detention Facility for First Amendment Violations

NEW YORK, NY – Today, the New York Civil Liberties Union, Prisoners’ Legal Services of New York, and Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights sued the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, and the Buffalo Federal Detention Facility — an ICE federal detention center known as Batavia — over the facility’s failure to protect the confidentiality of legal mail, in violation of the First Amendment.

Previously, to protect private communications between people detained at Batavia and their lawyers, ICE officers were required to open mail in the presence of the person detained, and to give recipients the original copy of their mail. Under a new policy, Batavia now requires officers to hold the original copy in a staff-only area of the jail, and provide only a copy to the recipient. This new policy gives ICE officers unfettered access to privileged legal mail, which often contain sensitive information about their immigration cases, infringing on their right to secure, confidential legal counsel.

“Batavia’s mail policy gives officers free rein to read people’s privileged legal mail — violating the First Amendment’s guarantee that lawyers and their clients can confidentially communicate,” said Amy Belsher, Director of Immigrants’ Rights Litigation at the New York Civil Liberties Union. “The policy prevents people in immigration detention, and lawyers like us, from relying on the written communications necessary to relay important and deeply personal information about their immigration cases — greatly increasing their risk of prolonged detention or deportation. As the Trump Administration takes increasingly unlawful steps to try to enact mass deportations, the First Amendment rights of people forced into detention facilities like Batavia must be respected and upheld.”

“ICE’s new mail policy is a flagrant violation of confidentiality and privacy, the bedrock of the attorney-client relationship,” said Sarah Decker, staff attorney at Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights. “It also has a chilling effect on detained people’s ability to report abuse and inhumane conditions without fear of retaliation. Given Batavia’s long history of abuse, including one of highest rates of solitary confinement nationwide, we are particularly concerned that this policy will allow ICE to abuse detained people with impunity.”

“Our clients no longer feel safe communicating confidential information about their cases or the conditions of their confinement with their attorneys by mail,” said Jillian Nowak, Managing Attorney at Prisoners’ Legal Services of New York. “This policy strains already limited resources and creates yet another barrier to full and fair proceedings in the immigration courts.”

Batavia’s new mail policy follows a broader pattern of abuse at the facility. For years, officials at Batavia have subjected people in detention to cruel, inhumane treatment, including the use of excessive force, rampant overcrowding, and prolonged solitary confinement. During the first Trump administration, the NYCLU sued Batavia and federal officials to secure asylum seekers’ right to a parole process, reinstate fair legal hearings, and to enforce protective measures for those at risk during the COVID pandemic.

The lawsuit calls for an immediate end to Batavia’s new mail policy, as well as complete and total confidentiality of all legal mail.

You can find case materials here: https://www.nyclu.org/court-cases/prisoners-legal-services-v-department-of-homeland-security.

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