Declaration of Bridget Cambria in Support of Proposed Intervenors' Motion for Administrative Stay

Summary

Bridget Cambria, Executive Director of Aldea — The People's Justice Center in Reading, Pennsylvania, signed this declaration on October 16, 2020 in support of the proposed intervenors' motion for an administrative stay in East Bay Sanctuary Covenant v. William Barr, Case No. 4:19-cv-04073-JST in the Northern District of California, filed 10/19/20 as Document 99. It states that Aldea represents two families detained at the Berks County Residential Center, including children ages two and three, who face removal under orders obtained through fear interviews conducted under the third country-transit asylum eligibility bar. It says the families were subjected to the higher "reasonable fear" standard under a rule that has since been vacated, that ICE gives attorneys no notice before a removal, and that without a stay the families can be removed at any moment.

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              Case 4:19-cv-04073-JST Document 99 Filed 10/19/20 Page 1 of 3
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Adam Siegler (SBN 116233)
GREENBERG TRAURIG LLP
1840 Century Park East

Suite 1900

Los Angeles, CA 90067
Telephone: (310) 586-7700
Facsimile: (310) 586-7800
Email:sieglera@gtlaw.com

Jonathan K. Ogata (SBN 325914)
GREENBERG TRAURIG, LLP
1201 K Street, Suite 1100
Sacramento, CA

Telephone: (916) 442-1111
Email:ogataj@gtlaw.com

Steven G. Barringer*
GREENBERG TRAURIG, LLP
2101 L Street, NW, Suite 1000
Washington, DC 20037
Telephone: (202) 331-3108
Facsimile: (202) 261-0114

Email: barringers@gtlaw.com

* Pro Hac Vice Forthcoming

Caroline J. Heller*
GREENBERG TRAURIG LLP
200 Park Ave

New York, NY 10166

Telephone: (212) 801-9200
Facsimile: (212) 801-6400

Email: hellerc@gtlaw.com

Gregory P. Copeland*

Sarah T. Gillman*

RAPID DEFENSE NETWORK

11 Broadway, Suite 615

New York, NY 10004-1490
Telephone: (212) 843-0910
Facsimile: (212) 257-7033

Email: gregory@defensenetwork.org
Email: sarah@defensenetwork.org

Attorneys for Proposed Plaintiff-Intervenors

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

EAST BAY SANCTUARY
COVENANT, et al.,

Plaintiffs,

VS.

WILLIAM BARR, et al.,
Defendants.

Case No. 4:19-cv-04073-JST
[Judge: Hon. Jon S. Tigar]

DECLARATION OF BRIDGET
CAMBRIA IN SUPPORT OF
PROPOSED INTERVENORS’
MOTION FOR ADMINISTRATIVE

Date Action Filed: July 16, 2019

DECLARATION OF BRIDGET CAMBRIA IN SUPPORT OF PROPOSED INTERVENORS’ MOTION FOR

ADMINISTRATIVE STAY
Case 4:19-cv-04073-JST Document 99 Filed 10/19/20 Page 2 of 3
DECLARATION OF BRIDGET CAMBRIA, ESQ.

I, Bridget Cambria, declare that the following information is true and correct to the best
of my knowledge and belief:

1. My name is Bridget Cambria, Esq. and I am an attorney with, and the
Executive Director of, Aldea — The People’s Justice Center (“Aldea’’), a non-
profit located in Reading, Pennsylvania in the County of Berks. Our
organization, Aldea, offers universal representation to families detained at the
Berks County Residential Center in Leesport, Pennsylvania. In the last five
years, we have represented more than one thousand parents and children who
have been detained in family detention in the Berks County Residential Center
(“BCRC’”).

2. Our organization currently represents two families at the Berks Country
Residential Center for immigration purposes who are Plaintiffs in the instant
intervention request. They include parents and children ages two years old and
three years old. The removal of these parents and children are imminent. They
are currently without a stay of removal and can be removed at any time.

They are subject to orders of removal which were obtained pursuant to fear
interviews conducted under the third country-transit asylum eligibility bar, 8
C.F.R. § 1208.13(c)(4) (the “Rule). Each parent and child were denied the right
to request asylum in the United States pursuant to 8 § U.S.C. 1158 as a direct
result of the application of the Rule regulation. Therefore, they have never
received credible fear interviews under the standards at 8 C.F.R. § 208.30
which require “significant possibility ... the alien can establish eligibility for
asylum,” requiring only some chance of demonstrating at least a ten percent
chance of persecution or harm.

4. Pursuant to the Rule regulation, my clients were required to establish
“reasonable fear” which is a far higher burden than credible fear and is usually
applied only to those persons deemed an aggravated felon or a person who is
subject to a prior order of removal. However, reasonable fear interviews have
a number of protections that my clients were not afforded under the statute and
regulations such as the right to obtain counsel prior to the interview and a
proper orientation explaining proper legal standards.

5. The credible fear process in expedited removal involves review by an
immigration judge. In my clients’ cases, their review by the immigration judge
was also pursuant to the heightened “reasonable fear” standard mandated by
the Rule regulation. Their final orders of removal are based on the application
of an unlawfully heightened standard that has now been vacated, but the
government refuses to process them under the correct legal standard.

6. Neither Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) nor the staff at BCRC
Case 4:19-cv-04073-JST Document 99 Filed 10/19/20 Page 3 of 3
provide any notice to the families’ attorneys as to when ICE intends to remove
a family will. We have requested notice prior to removal both from ICE and
BCRC and both refuse to provide this information. We learn that ICE has
removed a family only when we attempt to communicate with the family
concerning their case and are told that they are no longer at the facility.

7. Once the removal process begins, ICE takes the families from BCRC and
transfers them to a staging ground for removal by plane. They are then
comingled with other detained persons subject to removal. Without a stay of
removal, the deportation of these parents and children can happen at any
moment.

8. The removal of these families, if effectuated, will occur as a direct result of the
third country-transit asylum eligibility bar. Immigration authorities were made
aware that this bar was unlawful pursuant to 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); 1.4. v. Barr, No. 19-2530 (TJK), 1:19-
cv-02117-TJK, Doc. 72 (D.C. Dist. Ct. Jun. 30, 2020).

9. Despite the change in law, on information and belief, immigration authorities
still intend to effectuate our client families’ removal based on an order received
pursuant to the unlawfully heightened standard in the now vacated Rule. That
removal can happen at any moment. Based on my experience and my clients’
countries of origin, I expect the government to begin action to remove them
immediately if not within days.

10. If removal is effectuated for these families, they fear physical harms, sexual
harms, psychological harms and torture based on their status as women, as
children, based on their familial associations and their political opinions. They
fear being killed, physical beatings and torture, sexual assaults and rape,
kidnappings and other harms. Because they were subject to the Rule, and
barred from requesting asylum, they have been completely denied the right to
seek asylum or to be protected from refoulement.

I declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of the United States of America that the
foregoing is true and correct pursuant to 28 U.S.C. ¢ 1746.

Date: October 16, 2020 (O-CR

Bridget Cambria, Esq.


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