Not just “oh I stepped on a Lego in the dark” level of suckiness. That sucks, for sure. What I’m talking about, though… like something that really fucking sucks?
Shawshank‘s deportation arraignment was today, via video conference. He waited almost two hours to talk to the judge, only to be told they can’t do anything for him. Mind you, by “do anything”, I’m not talking about helping to released him on bond, or fighting this at all. Nope! Here’s how shit works. The deported receives a “notice of removal”, detailing the charges against them. In some cases, ICE mails the notice and the deportee can prepare a defence. However, the removal notice is submitted as part of ICE’s warrant to pick up the deportee in cases involving a criminal conviction.
In Shawshank‘s case, they filed his paperwork incorrectly. The charges on the paperwork don’t match the actual conviction. Honestly, if he intended to fight things, this would be a bigger issue. In his case, however, it’s just ridiculous because he’s not fighting things. He just wants this done and go north to start over. Unfortunately, they won’t even do that until they fix the paperwork. Essentially, this whole fucking process is starting over.
He needs to wait nearly another three weeks until his next hearing in April. By then, they will have amended the removal notice to have the correct charges. He could head north after that. He thinks the turnaround, from court date to actual removal, is about three weeks. If that’s the case, he could be leaving closer to the end of April, instead of early/mid-April like he initially predicted.
Under normal circumstances, that is.
These are not normal times.
Half the country’s courts are on a shutdown. Unfortunately, no one knows what’s going to happen between now and April 7th. The US/Canada border is closed, except for essential travel. Are deportations considered essential travel?
JFC that really does suck. One would think that common sense and emergency procedure would prevail but oh no, not in this country FFS.
My work is just as bad, the place has lost it’s fucking mind.
Hoping for the best for the both of you.
Like I said, if he was fighting things, it might make sense to make sure the paperwork was all correct. Especially since he seems to think the paperwork had more serious charges on it than the actual court charges. But he’s not fighting to stay. At this point he’s fighting to leave.