Marc Elias, DNC and Hillary Clinton lawyer, is backing a lawsuit filed in Minnesota on behalf of illegal alien detainees.
A group of taxpayer-funded lawyers has sued the feds to create more demand for their product. I’m not kidding.
The lawsuit (viewable here) was filed yesterday in federal district court in Minnesota (Case No. 26-cv-479) and reported this morning. The lawsuit was filed as a “class action complaint” with the proposed class being all uillegal aliens being held in federal custody in Minnesota.
The plaintiffs include a Minneapolis-based nonprofit, The Advocates for Human Rights. They put out a press release this morning under the headline,
The Advocates for Human Rights, Individual Detained In Minnesota Sue DHS Over Denial of Access to Lawyers
According to the press release, The Advocates are represented by the Washington, DC, legal nonprofit Democracy Forward. According to the most recently available tax return (2024) for the Democracy Forward Foundation (DFF), the nonprofit is chaired by attorney Marc Elias. In his long career, Elias has served as an attorney for the Democratic national party and Hillary Clinton, among other clients. Also serving on the DFF board is Ron Klain, the former Biden White House chief of staff. DFF also posted the press release.
Aliens held in ICE custody are allowed to have lawyers represent them, but they are not entitled to free, federal-taxpayer-paid lawyers. The lawsuit appears to seek guarantees that detained aliens have assured access to state-taxpayer-funded attorneys.
The “individual detained in Minnesota” mentioned in the press release is not named in the lawsuit, but is separately represented by the powerful local law firm Fredrikson and Byron.
The defendants in the lawsuit are the usual collection of federal agencies.
According to state government databases, The Advocates have received almost $1,100,000 in grants from the state Department of Human Services over the past two fiscal years. The Advocates are advertised on official State of Minnesota websites. The nonprofit also receives donations from local law firms and individuals.
The Advocates’ business model appears to be to gain the release of ICE detainees and use their lawyers to add the cases to the decades-long backlog at the local U.S. Immigration Court. It’s de facto amnesty, without an act of Congress. And you, the taxpayer, get to fund every single aspect of it.
Speaking of detainee release, the number of habeas corpus filings in the local federal court is now up to 465 in January, so far.
Note: an earlier version of this post appeared at AmericanExperiment.Org.
