Mary Tanagho Ross

Working on behalf of immigrant children in the face of an unsympathetic executive branch, Ross, a Public Counsel senior staff attorney on its Immigrant Rights Project, has scored court victories and prevented deportations.

"It's an extremely hostile time, but we've been extremely successful in federal court fighting the hostility," she said.

Ross is currently battling--by Zoom--before a federal judge in Michigan to keep in the U.S. one of the 2,500 young people she helped gain Special Immigrant Juvenile Status in the face on a Trump administration policy that cut state probate courts out of the process of evaluating youthful immigrants' status. The children had been granted state probate court guardianships to get them away from abusive or neglectful parents. The new policy precluded them from obtaining the special status needed for a path to legal residency.

The class action Ross and co-counsel at Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area and Manatt Phelps & Phillips LLP filed on the children's behalf resulted in a preliminary injunction preventing their removal. J.L. v. Cuccinelli, 18-cv-04914 (N.D. Cal., filed Aug. 14, 2018).

The suit settled in December 2019 with the injunction intact. But Ross found it hadn't been fully effective. "I discovered five immigrants had been removed during the active litigation," she said. Among them were the youth in Michigan and four others, including Primero Garcia, who was twice attacked by gang members during the few months he was in Guatemala. "We initiated contempt proceedings, and the judge ordered the five be brought back to the U.S. One was not located. Since then, I've been overseeing individual habeas corpus proceedings."

The habeas filings were necessary because the government threatened to again deport the children because they did not yet have green cards. In Garcia's case, a federal judge ruled that the government could not again remove him to Guatemala and ordered he be provided a bond hearing, which resulted in his release from detention while he awaits lawful permanent residency. Garcia v. Barr, 3:20-cv-01389 (N.D. Cal., filed Feb. 24, 2020). Also on the plaintiff's team were the San Francisco public defender and the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights.

In the Michigan case, Melvin Diaz-Calderon remains in a Detroit county lockup while Ross seeks his freedom. "It's an active fight, and there'll be a hearing in the next two weeks," she said in mid-July. "He's at heightened risk in an unsafe jail because of Covid, and the government's arguments are even more preposterous because he is now eligible for a green card. Diaz-Calderon. v. Barr, 2:20-cv-11235 (E.D. Mich., filed May 19, 2020).

"In large part, the heroes here are the clients we serve, brave immigrant children and youth who are pursuing a life here in the United States, where they are safe from harm," Ross said.

-- John Roemer