1. United States
2. Mich.
3. Letter

Federal immigration agents can now deport people to countries that aren’t even their own, with as little as six hours’ notice. Under a new policy quietly rolled out in a July 9 memo by Acting ICE Director Todd M. Lyons, immigrants can be removed without any guarantee they’ll be safe from abuse, persecution, or torture once they arrive. The rule removes previous protections that required confirmation that the person had ties to the receiving country or that the country consented. Now, people may be sent to places they’ve never been, with no warning and no promise of safety. This is a major shift in U.S. immigration policy under the Trump administration and it raises serious human rights and legal concerns. The U.S. is a party to the United Nations Convention Against Torture, which strictly prohibits sending a person to any country where they are likely to face torture. Article 3 of CAT states: “No State Party shall expel, return (‘refouler’) or extradite a person to another State where there are substantial grounds for believing that he would be in danger of being subjected to torture.” This new ICE policy appears to ignore those protections entirely. This is a blatant violation of human rights and needs to stop. These immigrants are not being given due process, and some of them are here legally. Please fight to stop this and treat all immigrants with humanity and compassion.