Rigoberto Hernandez

Rigoberto Hernandez is an Oregon wildland firefighter and Innovation Law Lab client who became a public figure after Border Patrol arrested him while he was fighting the Bear Gulch Fire in Washington. After nearly four weeks in ICE detention, he was released and later spoke publicly about the arrest and the need for access to legal counsel.

Oregon Lawyers Challenge ICE Detentions That Outrun Access to Counsel

Bloomberg Investigates follows Portland-based Innovation Law Lab as it challenges the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement in court and tries to free detainees before transfer or fast-track deportation makes relief harder to obtain. The lawyers’ central argument is that due process is being eroded not only by arrests and detention, but by speed: immigrants may have formal rights, they say, yet be unable to exercise them without timely access to counsel. DHS disputes that account, saying ICE does not deny counsel as a matter of policy and that any denials are isolated or justified.

Bloomberg OriginalsMay 26, 202615 min read