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In a legal battle against asylum rules, Louisiana Republican Attorney General Jeff Landry has asked a federal court to subpoena three small civic organizations that defend immigrants to reveal compromising customer information.
Landry cited the groups Home is Here NOLA, Immigration Services and Legal Advocacy (ISLA), and Louisiana Advocates for Immigrants in Detention.
The Republican prosecutor, who is now running for governor, is demanding to identify all asylum seekers those groups have helped, including information on any government support they receive, among other information.
“What worries us, more than anything, [es que] we do not want to put our clients in a situation where they may be in danger with a person who is as anti-immigrant as he is,” warned Homero López, Legal Director and co-founder of ISLA. “We want to see what connection they would have then with implementing some policies or starting to look for them. [a los inmigrantes] or to threaten them […]It’s what we fear the most.”
The organizations are asking Judge David Johnson—appointed by former President Donald Trump—to block the petition.
“We have some colleagues from the CCR or Central for Constitutional Rights, they are representing us in court, because we have to respond, if we do not respond to that summons, the court can sanction us,” López acknowledged. “They submitted a petition to the court making our arguments, saying that we should not have to give this information, this information is privileged.”
Judge Johnson – who was the federal prosecutor for the Western District of Louisiana – set April 6 as the date for a hearing, where he will hear arguments, although that day he could also make a decision.
“It is that the court should order us to give the information and our lawyers will make the argument as to why it should not be given. [la información]said Lopez.
After that decision, the following legal steps will be taken, the activist said, but he considered that this decision by Attorney Landry sends a bad message to immigrants, but it is part of his position against non-citizens.
“He is a prosecutor who has spoken very badly about immigrants, he is a prosecutor who is right now… he has a campaign to be governor of Louisiana,” he said.
The information that López is most concerned about disclosing is the identity and personal data of his clients, something that other organizations must do.
“Why do you want the identity? [de los inmigrantes]? What he needs are the figures, what he needs are statistics, he doesn’t need the names of individual people”, the ISLA representative insisted.
What is the lawsuit about?
Attorney Landry and Republican attorneys general Arizona, Alabama, Florida, Arkansas, Mississippi, Missouri, Alaska, and West Virginia filed a 2022 lawsuit against United States Attorney General Merrick Garlandagainst the new asylum rules.
The lawsuit charges that this will cause a significant increase in immigrants, which will affect other states in their finances.
Louisiana argues that the state government would have to spend more money in education, health care and law enforcement if more immigrants are allowed.
The asylum rule of the administration of President Joe Biden would allow immigrants seeking asylum to have an asylum interview and a faster decision of the cases, before they can go to court.
“What they are saying [los estados demandantes]is that this will result in more people receiving asylum and then that will result in more costs to the state for education, public benefits, etc.,” López said.
The lawsuit seeks to block the new rule of the Biden Administration and, on the other hand, if Judge Johnson accepts the motion, that could set a precedent against other civil organizations in favor of immigrants.