Macon immigration lawyer seeing ‘most rights violations’ of her career

Ashley Deadwyler-Heuman has practiced immigration law for more than a decade, operating offices in Macon and Cordele. She said her immigration caseload has doubled since the beginning of the year.

Less than a year into his presidency, Donald Trump’s crackdown on unauthorized immigration has shocked much of the country and sparked a growing sense of fear in Middle Georgia and elsewhere.

“I’ve built my whole life and career around this type of work,” Deadwyler-Heuman said, who has handled 215 cases since January. “What I’m seeing is, in my professional career, the most rights violations I’ve ever seen.”

Viral videos circulating online depict federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents detaining unauthorized immigrants outside of courthouses and targeting individuals in the streets.

Supporters of Trump’s immigration policies and mass deportations cite a need to remove noncitizen criminals from the streets and preserve more jobs for Americans.

ICE took hundreds of workers into custody at a Hyundai Plant in Bryan County in September. 

Deadwyler-Heuman pointed to an unprecedented “disregard for due process” as the Trump administration ramps up enforcement.

In the past, noncitizens who entered the country illegally and remained for at least 10 years might qualify for bond if they had family legally residing in the U.S. and no criminal record, the immigration attorney said. 

However, under Trump, these individuals aren’t granted bonds and are detained while their cases remain active. 

Many immigration cases are also being reopened, Deadwyler-Heuman said, such as those involving noncitizens whose children are ill but legally residing in the U.S. 

Some of her clients received bold red-and-blue email notices from the federal government offering two options: self-deport or risk being fined or detained. 

The notices warn of a $998 per day fine for an individual who refuses to deport after being ordered to do so and an even larger fine for someone who doesn’t self-deport after promising they will.

People who entered the country and sought asylum under the previous Biden administration are receiving notices to self-deport and those in the country under victim-based relief are also being exiled, Deadwyler-Heuman noted. 

The executive branch has too much control over the immigration system, she said, noting that ICE operates as a part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Board of Immigration Appeals and Executive Office for Immigration Review courts operate under the Department of Justice.

“We need independent judicial immigration courts,” Deadwyler-Heuman said. “Not immigration courts that are doing the bidding of the DOJ under this administration.”

She said that the Middle District of Georgia recently ruled against the government preventing bond eligibility in certain immigration cases.

How it’s affecting Georgians
The ICE presence in Georgia is much smaller compared to blue states, Deadwyler-Heuman said, but she advised individuals to avoid traffic violations and minor run-ins with law enforcement that could result in ICE being called.

Some individuals are avoiding travel while others have chosen to self-deport or leave the country voluntarily, she added.

A culture of intolerance is “not just causing fear, it’s causing disdain for our country,” Deadwyler-Heuman said.

Warner Robins resident Stephanie Hernandez — the daughter of Honduran immigrants — organized a protest against mass deportation and increased ICE presence in February. 

But a lot has changed since earlier this year. Hernandez said more people were standing up and speaking out in February. Now, many people have lost hope and have decided to lie low and ride out the rest of Trump’s time in office.  

“I don’t know if the people that were out there that day with me would want to come out anymore,” she said of organizing future protests. 

Hernandez said she’s also struggling to find time to organize a movement as her efforts have shifted toward attending court or going to doctor’s appointments with members of her community who are too afraid to go alone.

Her uncle went to a scheduled ICE check-in in Atlanta to confirm that he was still in the country under asylum, she recalled. 

ICE officers detained everyone in the waiting room, including him. He spent five months at Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin before being deported.

Deadwyler-Heuman also pointed to mounting concerns amongst immigration lawyers. She said one lawyer was detained at an airport earlier this year and had their phone — containing potentially confidential client information — confiscated. 

ICE agents detained the Michigan attorney, Amir Makled, at the Detroit Metro Airport in April. The agents coerced him into giving up his phone’s contact list, before releasing him, according to NPR. 

“If we’re not giving due process to immigrants anymore, my concern is that a lawless administration… is then going to, possibly, violate the due process of citizens or their political opponents,” Deadwyler-Heuman said.