ACLU Files Suit to Challenge Closed Immigration Hearings

IMMIGRATION LAW & POLICY

Removal Procedures and Defenses

ACLU FILES SUIT TO CHALLENGE CLOSED IMMIGRATION HEARINGS
Immigrants' Rights Update, Vol. 16, No. 1, February 28, 2002

The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a lawsuit in federal district court for the Eastern District of Michigan to challenge the closing of immigration court hearings to the public and the press. Closed hearings were authorized in a memorandum that Chief Immigration Judge Michael Creppy issued to all immigration judges (see "Chief Immigration Judge Issues Guidelines for Secret Removal Hearings," Immigrants' Rights Update , Dec. 20, 2001, p. 3). The lawsuit was brought on behalf of the Detroit News, Inc., the Metro Times, Inc., and Congressman John Conyers, Jr., after they were denied access to hearings in the case of Rabih Haddad, a Muslim pastor and community leader in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The complaint charges that the closing of court proceedings pursuant to the memo violates regulations of the Executive Office for Immigration Review, as well as the constitutional protections of the First Amendment and the Due Process Clause. A copy of the complaint in Detroit News, Inc. v. Ashcroft is available at www.aclu.org/court/haddad.pdf.