A native of Zimbabwe, living legally in the United States and seeking political asylum was jailed by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement because they claimed that he did not attend an immigration court hearing. In reality, he never received the notice for the hearing because the immigration authorities sent the notice to the wrong address.
This asylum-seeker was held in immigration detention for more than four months in facilities well known for deplorable conditions. Luckily, an immigration lawyer filed a motion to reopen his removal proceedings and was able to prove that the detained alien never actually received notice of the hearing and that the lack of notice was not his fault.
This case underscores the importance of retaining an immigration attorney to handle all your immigration matters so mistakes like this will not occurr.
