The law says if you come to this country and want asylum, you have to ask for it in your first year. For decades, people who did that were largely left alone while they waited. The application was proof you were doing it the right way.

Not anymore.

Last July, ICE issued a memo reinterpreting which part of immigration law governs detention — a change that stripped many people of the right to ask a judge to release them on bond. The Board of Immigration Appeals backed that reading in September. Federal courts have split over it, and in May the 6th Circuit, which covers Michigan, ruled against the policy.

Attorneys here say something else changed alongside it. Agents started showing up at the homes and workplaces of people with applications pending — people whose only offense is waiting in a line that takes years.

On today’s show, host Robyn Vincent speaks with three people living with these changes.

Kevin Piecuch is an immigration attorney and executive director of the Southwest Detroit Immigrant and Refugee Center, a free and low-cost legal clinic. He describes a legal practice now dominated by detention cases, and recounts what he says he witnessed at a bond docket this month — arrest records submitted to a judge containing information he says was flatly false. 

We also hear from a young woman detained while her asylum case was still pending. We’re not using her real name.

Later, Pastor Kevin Casillas of the First Latin American Baptist Church in Southwest Detroit describes what these detentions have done to his congregation — and to his job. In January of last year, the federal government rescinded the policy that had kept immigration enforcement away from churches, schools and hospitals. Some congregations have since won court protection. 

The Metro contacted ICE’s Detroit field office and media department for comment. They did not respond.

Hear the full conversation using the media player above.

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