Did
you
have
immigration
lawyer
watch
list
on
your
2025
authoritarianism
BINGO
card?
If
so,
congrats!
But
for
everyone
else,
it’s
yet
another
sad
slide
into
federal
control
to
learn
that
Immigration
and
Customs
Enforcement
(ICE)
posted
what
appears
to
be
a
covert
roster
of
immigration
attorneys
buried
on
its
own
website.
The
list
was
discovered
by
attorney
Arlene
Amarante,
who
stumbled
upon
the
list
while
interacting
with
ICE’s
website
and
found
her
own
name
on
it.
The
list
has
since
been
pulled
from
the
website,
which
is
usually
what
agencies
do
when
a
documents
is
totally
normal.
Now
Al
Otro
Lado,
an
immigration
advocacy
group,
has
filed
a
Freedom
of
Information
Act
request
demanding
to
know
who
created
the
list,
why
it
existed,
and
what
ICE
thought
it
was
doing
cataloging
attorneys
in
the
first
place.
Amarante
noticed
something
else
about
the
list
that
raised
even
more
concerns,
as
she
told
WGNO,
“One
of
the
troubling
patterns
I
suppose
that
I
recognized,
was
that
a
large
number
of
these
practitioners
on
the
list
were
people
of
color.”
Which
pushes
this
from
bureaucratic
weirdness
into
civil
liberties
nightmare
fuel.
Amarante
continued:
“Why
does
the
list
exist?
Whether
it’s
an
innocent
incursion
or
something
that
is
more
intentional
or
nefarious,
we
need
to
get
to
the
bottom
of
it.
It’s
troubling
because
there’s
a
pattern
of
threats
by
the
administration
—
the
implication
by
the
government
is
that
offering
support
to
a
client
is
the
harm
in
itself
and
the
names
on
the
list
sort
of
seems
to
support
that.”
Let’s
not
forget,
this
administration
has
not
been
subtle
about
its
hostility
toward
lawyers
in
general
and
immigration
lawyers
in
particular.
In
March
2025,
the
White
House
issued
a
memo
titled
“Preventing
Abuses
of
the
Legal
System
and
the
Federal
Court,”
which
attacked
the
act
of
lawyering,
accused
immigration
attorneys
of
“unscrupulous”
conduct,
and
directed
the
Attorney
General
to
take
action
against
lawyers
and
firms
that
cross
the
Trump
Administration.
Al
Otro
Lado
didn’t
mince
words,
alleging
that
the
database
raises
“grave
concerns
of
political
targeting
and
professional
intimidation
at
a
time
when
the
administration
is
openly
escalating
its
attacks
on
immigrant
advocates.”
Andrew
Fels,
a
staff
attorney
at
Al
Otro
Lado,
put
it
bluntly,
“There
is
no
obvious
legitimate
reason
for
ICE
to
be
compiling
what
appears
to
be
a
covert
roster
of
immigration
lawyers.
We
are
giving
ICE
an
opportunity
to
publicly
explain
the
watch
list’s
purpose.
Publishing
the
underlying
policies
governing
the
watch
list’s
creation
and
inclusion
criteria
will
conclusively
resolve
this
issue.”
Cassandra
Lopez,
Al
Otro
Lado’s
legal
director,
framed
the
situation
as
a
warning
to
all
lawyers.
“History
may
be
repeating
itself.
Once
again,
our
staff
and
colleagues
appear
on
a
government
watch
list
simply
for
doing
our
jobs—defending
the
constitutional
right
to
seek
asylum
and
holding
the
government
accountable
in
court.
The
pattern
is
unmistakable
and
deeply
alarming.”
Lopez’s
warning
is
particularly
poignant.
Since
the
start
of
his
second
term,
Donald
Trump
has
been
aggressively
attacking
lawyers
and
the
very
rule
of
law.
This
watch
list
appears
to
be
the
next
disturbing
step,
with
the
government
treating
adversarial
legal
representation
as
suspect
conduct.
That
is
a
direct
inversion
of
how
the
legal
system
is
supposed
to
function.
The
existence
of
the
list
suggests
a
bureaucratic
culture
that
views
immigration
lawyers
not
as
officers
of
the
court,
but
as
obstacles
to
be
monitored.
And
it
should
concern
anyone
who
still
believes
the
rule
of
law
depends
on
lawyers
being
able
to
do
their
jobs
without
being
cataloged
(or
worse)
by
the
very
agencies
they’re
tasked
with
challenging.
Kathryn
Rubino
is
a
Senior
Editor
at
Above
the
Law,
host
of
The
Jabot
podcast,
and
co-host
of
Thinking
Like
A
Lawyer.
AtL
tipsters
are
the
best,
so
please
connect
with
her.
Feel
free
to
email
her
with
any
tips,
questions,
or
comments
and
follow
her
on
Twitter
@Kathryn1 or
Mastodon
@[email protected].