Avila v. Blanche

Public Rights Project, alongside the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul and Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas, filed an amicus brief supporting a request for the Eighth Circuit to rehear a critical immigration case before a full panel of judges. 

In a 2-1 ruling, the Eighth Circuit eliminated bond hearings for people who entered the U.S. without inspection at a port of entry or border crossing. If it stands, it would reverse 30 years of precedent and lead to the largest expansion of mandatory detention in U.S. history. The Second, Sixth, Seventh, and 11th Circuits have all rejected the government’s unprecedented efforts to detain millions of immigrants across the nation. 

Our brief explains the vast harms this policy would inflict on communities:

• Damage to local economies: Undocumented workers make up a large share of the agricultural industry in the Eighth Circuit. Mass detentions would trigger labor shortages and could lead to a 10% increase in food prices. The construction, manufacturing, and transportation workforces would also be affected, leading to increased costs and slower economic growth. 
• Harm to the broader community: Increased detention could force some employers to shut down entirely, triggering more than 2.5 million job losses for American workers. It will also drain more than $8.1 billion that undocumented immigrants spend in their communities — dollars that local governments rely on to fund critical services and social safety net programs.
• Erosion of trust in local law enforcement: Mandatory detention deters immigrant residents from reporting crimes and prevents victims from coming forward, deteriorating relationships with local police and leaving communities less secure.

• Undermined public health and safety: Increased enforcement causes immigrants to avoid health care services out of fear, raising the risk for communicable diseases and increasing public health costs.
• Broken family and community cohesion: The federal government’s mandatory detention regime would imperil the deep integration of immigrants in American communities and families. About 460,000 undocumented immigrants live in the Eighth Circuit, with over 200,000 U.S. citizens in households with at least one undocumented family member.

Read the amicus brief.