Declaration of Shalyn Fluharty — Proyecto Dilley — East Bay Sanctuary Covenant v. Barr (N.D. Cal.)

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U.S. District Court, N.D. Cal. · No. 4:19-cv-04073-JST · Doc. 97-1 · 2020-10-16 · Docket on CourtListener

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DECLARATION OF SHALYN FLUHARTY 
I, Shalyn Fluharty, hereby declare under penalty of perjury as prescribed in 28 U.S.C. § 1746: 
 
1. I direct the Proyecto Dilley, formerly known as the Dilley Pro Project and CARA Pro 
Bono Project, in Dilley, Texas. In this capacity, I oversee a team of attorneys and full-
time paralegals, and a rotating group of volunteers, who provide legal services on 
behalf of asylum-seeking families who are detained at the South Texas Family 
Residential Center. I have been practicing law since 2010, and my practice has 
focused on representing detained unaccompanied immigrant children and detained 
immigrant families before the Executive Office of Immigration Review (“EOIR”) and 
the Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”). 
 
2. Proyecto Dilley represents the proposed plaintiff-intervenors in this matter in their 
immigration proceedings. Each proposed plaintiff-intervenor has a final order of 
expedited removal that is based upon a negative credible fear finding issued 
subsequent to the application of 8 C.F.R. § 1208.13(c)(4), the third country-transit 
asylum eligibility bar (the “Rule). Proposed plaintiff-intervenors have not had their 
claims adjudicated in alignment with the legal standard or procedural protections that 
are required in credible fear proceedings, and instead, were subjected to the 
heightened “reasonable fear” standard.  
 
3. Based upon my experience representing proposed plaintiff-intervenors, absent a 
Court ordered stay, ICE will likely commence removal of the proposed plaintiffs-
intervenors from the United States despite the fact that their negative fear findings 
are based upon the application of the Rule on October 17, 2020.  Capital Area 
Immigrants’ Rights (CAIR) Coalition et. al. v. Trump, No. 19-2117 (TJK), 1:19-cv-
02117-TJK, Doc. 72 (D.C. Dist. Ct. Jun. 30, 2020); I.A. v. Barr, No. 19-2530 (TJK), 
1:19-cv-02117-TJK, Doc. 72 (D.C. Dist. Ct. Jun. 30, 2020). Proposed plaintiff-
intervenors were recently clustered together in the same “neighborhood” within the 
facility. ICE regularly moves families within the facility when preparing them for 
removal. Additionally, today, October 16, 2020, ICE spoke with proposed plaintiff-
intervenors to secure contact information for the person who will receive them when 
they are removed and advised proposed plaintiff-intervenors that this person should 
be immediately ready to receive them.    
 
4. The proposed plaintiff-intervenors fear death, torture, rape and other extreme cruelty 
and harm upon return to their countries of origin. Although the removal of each 
proposed plaintiff-intervenor will permanently jeopardize their ability to seek asylum 
in the United States, plaintiff-intervenors primary fear is the irreversible physical 
harm they will face if deported. 
 
Case 4:19-cv-04073-JST   Document 97-1   Filed 10/16/20   Page 1 of 3

5. The government has the ability and intention to execute the removal of the proposed 
plaintiff-intervenors with tremendous speed. I am aware that the government has 
removed families from Dilley in less than 24 hours after a court ordered stay was 
dissolved.  
 
6. In fact, this happened to numerous plaintiffs in M.M.V. v. Barr who were removed 
during a two-day gap in federal court stays of removal.  Even some M.M.V. plaintiffs 
who were covered by stays of removal were removed subsequent to the issuance of 
the stay of removal.   
 
7. Based upon information and belief, ICE operates daily removal flights from South 
Texas to many Central America countries. When ICE seeks to remove a family and 
ICE does not have an ICE-contracted flight immediately available, it regularly books 
commercial flights out of the Houston or San Antonio airports, transporting families 
by vehicle to the airport in the middle of the night. This allows ICE to effectuate 
removal for families who will be removed to any country, within a day’s notice.  
 
8. With the exception of families who are removed to El Salvador, ICE provides no 
notice to counsel or families prior to their removal. Typically, families are informed 
late at night – after 8 p.m., and most commonly around 10 p.m. – that they will be 
removed the following morning. Removal flights typically depart around 6:00 a.m.  
 
9. Families most commonly learn that they are being removed less than 12 hours prior to 
their removal when they are directed to immediately pack up their belongings and 
moved to a staging area, isolated from other detained individuals. During the staging 
period, families are unable to come to the legal visitation trailer and have limited 
access to the phone. In the overwhelming majority of cases, families who are staged 
for removal are unable to make contact with Proyecto Dilley prior to removal; rather, 
we learn that the family has been removed after they arrive in their country of origin 
for the first time.   
 
10. Based upon information and belief, the removal of all proposed plaintiff-intervenors 
is imminent. Absent the issuance of a stay of removal, proposed plaintiff-intervenors 
will be removed without the opportunity to have their claims properly and fully 
considered under the correct legal standard.  
 
 
Case 4:19-cv-04073-JST   Document 97-1   Filed 10/16/20   Page 2 of 3

Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. Section 1746, I declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of the 
United States of America that the foregoing is true and correct.  
Executed on October 16, 2020 in Ft. Myers, Florida. 
 
 
 
Case 4:19-cv-04073-JST   Document 97-1   Filed 10/16/20   Page 3 of 3

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