Header Image: West Virginia District Judge Irene Berger
The Independent
A federal judge reprimanded Donald Trump’s administration for claiming that an immigrant seeking his release from custody was convicted for marijuana possession in 2009 — when he was 4 years old.
To support arguments for the man’s ongoing detention and removal from the country, government lawyers attached a document from Immigration and Customs Enforcement that they “indicated” was related to his criminal history.
They submitted the document in court filings “despite the differences in birthdate, birthplace, parents’ names, and immigration status,” West Virginia District Judge Irene Berger noted in her order to release him on Tuesday.
“This sloppiness further validates the Court’s concerns about the procedures utilized by the Respondents depriving people present in the United States of their liberty,” she wrote.
The viral rebuke, first reported by Politico, is the latest in a string of losses for Department of Justice lawyers and Homeland Security officials who are failing to keep up with court orders after thousands of arrests under Trump’s mass deportation efforts.
