Many immigrants detained and then released by Immigration and Customs Enforcement or Border Patrol have found that release was not the end of their problems. Across the country, government agents have been losing government documents, personal effects, medical devices, and other belongings after confiscating them, effectively turning released immigrants into legal non-persons.
According to lawyers and formerly detained immigrants who spoke to Salon, ICE and Border Patrol officers never admit to trashing or keeping these items, but that they have not been found anywhere. Only a call from a persistent lawyer might motivate officers to actually find those items and return them by mail. Even if an immigrant reunites with some or all of the belongings confiscated, the intervening time often takes its toll and leaves them in a vulnerable state. Mo Goldman, an Arizona immigration attorney whose clients have often been bereft of their things, told Salon that not returning confiscated belongings has been a pattern in practice for a long time.
