At least ten Romanians were picked up by ICE in the US. “You can be arrested just because you have an accent”/ “A Romanian woman was taken from her bicycle”
At least ten Romanian citizens were detained in the United States as part of ICE actions. Lawyer Dana Bucin says that it is about people without a record, targeted because of the administrative situation regarding their stay in the USA.
You can be picked up by ICE agents just because of your race or accent. PHOTO: ICE
The actions of the US Department of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) continue in several US states, and Romanian citizens are among the people detained. The information was confirmed by lawyer Dana Bucin, established in Connecticut and specialized in immigration law, who spoke about these cases to Euronews.
According to her, at least ten Romanians were detained, and in the case of approximately five of them, the lawyer is directly involved.
“You're picked up even if you don't have a record”
Dana Bucin emphasizes that none of the people he is talking about has a criminal record, and the detentions do not concern crimes, but administrative situations, namely people who have exceeded the legal period of their visa or are in the process of obtaining a status – asylum, temporary protection, etc. – without yet having a final decision.
Lawyer Dana Bucin talks about the Romanians picked up by ICE in the USA. PHOTO: archive
“I can only tell you from my experiences with the Romanians who contacted me. I have heard from over ten Romanians detained, of whom I am in personal contact with about five.(…)
We are no longer talking about targeting only those with a criminal record, we have passed this phase and the phase has begun with targeting those who are here illegally or do not have a clear status. Because of the complexity of the system, there are still all kinds of people on their way to a certain status, they've filed the papers, they've gotten something back that confirms they're on the asylum application list. And even so they can be detained,” explained lawyer Dana Bucin.
“We have a Romanian woman who wants to convey that it is terrible from the moment you are picked up, even if you do not have a record. All my clients do not have a record. They are only clients who are intercepted because of their illegal status, so they overstayed their visa or derailed their legal status for some reason”, the lawyer stated.
A Romanian woman, detained from her bicycle, on the street
One of the most eloquent cases presented by Dana Bucin is that of a Romanian woman detained while she was on her bicycle, on the street.
“Simply going out on the street and speaking with an accent can be used against you and you can end up in ICE jail. That's what happened to this person, who was picked up right off his bike, facial recognition software was used to determine if he's in the U.S. illegally,” she told the story of the Romanian woman who was then taken through several detention centers.
“She is now in a detention center in Texas, after going through 3 or 4 other detention centers. The biggest detention centers are in Louisiana, Texas or Florida, and that's where Romanians usually end up,” Dana Bucin also explained.
“Accent and race can be used as a targeting factor”
Dana Bucin states that, recently, the authorities have expanded the criteria that can be invoked to stop and check people.
“I have heard from over ten Romanians detained, of whom I am in personal contact with about five. And all of them do not have criminal records, so they are the victims of the latest policy of targeting people based on their accent, their profile, simply because they were on the street at the same time as the law enforcement agencies.” she also said.
To illustrate the extent of the situation, the lawyer also offered the example of a Ukrainian citizen recently detained in the state of Alabama.
“I'll give you an example of a Ukrainian client who was recently detained in Alabama. He was here perfectly legally, on the status of «United for Ukraine», he did nothing wrong, he was driving the car”, she added, explaining that in some states in the southern US, local police cooperate directly with ICE.
“In states like Alabama, Louisiana and others in the south, the police are cooperating with ICE. He was stopped because he looked like a foreigner, and when they asked him, he had an accent. They put him in jail just because he had an accent, which can now be used, according to the latest case, before the Supreme Court“, continued the lawyer.
Dana Bucin says this practice is known as “Kavanaugh stops.”
“It's called “Kavanaugh stops,'' after the judge who facilitated it. Now, accent and race can be used as a factor you're allowed to use, as an ICE agent, to profile people. It's enough to give reasonable suspicion, the fact that you have an accent, to be asked about other things, documents, status, etc.”, she elaborated.
Dana Bucin confirmed the fact that the detained Romanians are deported exclusively to Romania and made some recommendations for those in such situations.
Advice for Romanians detained by ICE
Dana Bucin recommends that the detained Romanians immediately invoke consular assistance.
“I want to give hope, not panic. It's very interesting how American immigration law works.
At the moment when a Romanian is detained and the Romanian has spent more than ten years on US territory, even in illegal status, and has American citizen children, who can be proven to suffer extreme suffering in the event of the parent's deportation, all of these can formulate a case for «42B Cancellation of removal», which can only be invoked after the man has been detained. It's a way to get people out of jail, in this very specific situation. Not everyone, but certain cases. Just recently I obtained a 42B for a Peruvian national who entered prison undocumented and got out of prison with a green card. (…)
If you did not manage to reach a lawyer before being detained, the last thing you can do in detention is to invoke consular assistance, to ask to have contact with the Romanian Consulate, which can provide you with assistance, including legal assistance. This is very important, because during the first 7-10 days of incarceration, the man has no access to anything from the outside, he cannot call neither the family nor the lawyer. The person must invoke consular assistance, it is not automatically applied,” she advised those dealing with ICE agents.
