Attorneys for a family from Afghanistan detained at LAX and jailed mid-way through relocation to the United States said Monday federal immigration authorities had agreed to release the family on, "parole."
"We are grateful that the family's liberty will be renewed, but remain troubled that the government still has not provided any reason for their original arrest and detention," said Robert Blume with the law firm Gibson, Dunn, & Crutcher, LLP.
Blume said in a statement the firm was concerned that the arrests last Thursday suggested, "that the government refuses to recognize the legitimacy of the family's Special Immigration Visa."
Gibson Dunn attorneys and lawyers from the non-profit firm Public Counsel in Los Angeles intervened on the family's behalf over the weekend, and successfully won temporary orders from a U.S. District Court Judge to stop any enforcement action or the movement of the father to a detention center outside of Southern California.
The family, a father, mother, and three children, had been granted the special visa in order to relocate to Seattle after the father worked for the U.S. Government in Afghanistan and was in danger as a result of that work, the attorneys said.
By Monday afternoon the U.S. Department of Homeland Security had not explained the reason for the family's detention.
Due to concerns about the family's safety, the family members were referred to as John and Jane Does in court filings, and the documents that detailed the family's situation were filed under seal, meaning they were hidden from the public court file.
-- Eric Leonard (@LeonardFiles) in L.A.