A group of six immigrants currently held in U.S. detention centers filed a federal lawsuit Thursday, charging the Trump administration with creating a Kafkaesque policy that prevents them from submitting required biometric data—then uses that failure to reject their immigration applications.
The complaint, lodged in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, argues that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has established a system that “requires individuals to submit biometrics as part of their applications for immigration relief, while simultaneously refusing to collect that information from people in detention centers,” according to a statement from the advocacy group Democracy Forward.
This bureaucratic mismatch, the suit contends, effectively blocks eligible immigrants from pursuing lawful status through U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). The plaintiffs include survivors of human trafficking and abuse, as well as individuals seeking to reunite with family members. Without completing fingerprinting and photo processes, their applications are automatically denied.
Lawyers from Democracy Forward, the National Immigration Project, and the National Immigrant Justice Center are representing the plaintiffs. “Without this Court’s intervention, Plaintiffs and the class will face irreparable harm,” the lawsuit states. “They will lose their right to pursue lawful immigration status before being deported, and some will face prolonged detention when relief would have otherwise led to their release.”
The Hill has reached out to DHS for comment. The plaintiffs—citizens from Venezuela, Mexico, Cuba, and Iran—face potential deportation to countries where they fear persecution or abuse. “In short, they will face the very harms that Congress designed these paths to immigration relief to prevent,” the complaint reads.
Michelle Mendez, legal resources and training director at the National Immigration Project, did not mince words: “The government didn’t stumble into this outcome. They engineered it.” She added, “Require biometrics, refuse to collect them, then punish people for the gap you created. That’s not administration; that’s a trap. A deliberately broken process they’re now citing as proof that people eligible for benefits and protections deserve to be deported. We’re asking the court to see this scheme for exactly what it is.”
The Trump administration has aggressively expanded its use of surveillance technology for immigration enforcement, with funding from the president’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act fueling investments in tracking systems that monitor both migrants and U.S. citizens. Democratic lawmakers have pushed back, introducing legislation to bar federal immigration agencies from using facial recognition and other biometric identification tools.
Civil rights advocates have long warned that these technologies are prone to error and disproportionately affect women and people of color, leading to wrongful arrests and convictions. The lawsuit now puts a human face on those systemic concerns, alleging the administration is weaponizing a procedural gap to fast-track deportations.
In related developments, a federal judge recently blocked Trump’s termination of Temporary Protected Status for Yemeni nationals, a move that underscores ongoing judicial battles over immigration policy. Meanwhile, the administration has also tightened sanctions on Cuba, targeting foreign banks in a broader crackdown that echoes its hardline stance on immigration.
