Immigrant Rights Attorneys Ask Judge For More Remote Access To Georgia Detainees During Pandemic

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May 11th, 2020

A detention officer walks through the halls at the Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Ga.The Southern Poverty Law Center is asking a federal judge to step in that detention center in Stewart county and at another in Irwin County. The group wants more video call equipment and simply the ability to fax or email documents.

David Goldman / Associated Press

Immigrant rights attorneys claim the federal government has made it so difficult to reach detainees in Georgia during the pandemic that it’s violating their constitutional protections. 

This is not a new problem, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center. The advocacy nonprofit has been fighting a lawsuit for more access to Georgia immigration centers for the past two years.

But with the pandemic, attorney Erin Argueta with the group’s Southeast Immigrant Freedom Initiative said things have become much worse. 

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