Todd and Logan County Circuit Courts

In September 2006, the ACLU of Kentucky received complaints on behalf of several Latin Americans who were detained by Judge Sue Carol Browning, a state district court judge.  Earlier in the year, Judge Browning began asking individuals who seemed to be from Latin America for proof of their citizenship status, even though they appeared on minor traffic violations or misdemeanor charges, not anything related to immigration.  Judge Browning then "deported" from the state those who were unable to produce adequate documentation, by ordering them to leave (sometimes within 72 hours) and stay out of Kentucky.

The Administrative Office of the Courts — the administrative arm of the state judicial system — informed Judge Browning that she lacked authority to banish people from the state.  In response, in late August, Judge Browning again asked individuals appearing in front of her for proof of immigration status.  She then announced from the bench to those unable to produce documentation that, because she could no longer order people to leave the state, she would detain them for deportation.  She then called federal immigration officials and requested that they deport the detainees.  (At least one was a legal permanent resident.)  When federal authorities refused, Judge Browning ordered that the individuals be detained indefinitely.

The ACLU of Kentucky, along with the national ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project, helped secure full public defender representation for the detainees.  In a stinging rebuke, Circuit Court Judge Tyler Gill promptly overturned Judge Browning’s detention orders.  Judge Gill noted that "the rule of law has been inexplicably ignored or abandoned by the very institution entrusted to uphold it."  By ordering indefinite detentions, Judge Browning had violated the federal and state constitutions and "the basic human right to liberty and due process."  Judge Gill noted that, while Judge Browning may have been frustrated by immigration officials’ refusal to begin deportation proceedings, this did not give the court the authority to take matters into its own hands:  "Laws setting forth a legal process designed to handle illegal aliens are in place.  The fact that these laws are not being enforced may tempt vigilantes to take the law into their own hands  ...  Whether or not legally in the United States, the [detainees] are fellow human beings and deserve to be treated as such.  It is unconscionable and absurd to use the innocent and helpless as fodder in this battle."