Lawyer Avenatti Heads to Border to Join Child Separation Fray
High-profile lawyer Michael Avenatti, who became a media fixture as the attorney representing porn star Stormy Daniels in her legal battle with President Donald Trump, is taking his quest for clients to the southern border.
Avenatti arrived in Texas on Tuesday to begin a hunt for clients that he foreshadowed in earlier tweets, according to Breitbart.
If anyone knows of a parent that has had their child taken from them at the border and not returned, please have them contact me as I am entering this fight. This outrageous conduct must be brought to an immediate end. #Basta
— Michael Avenatti (@MichaelAvenatti) June 17, 2018
“If anyone knows of a parent that has had their child taken from them at the border and not returned, please have them contact me as I am entering this fight. This outrageous conduct must be brought to an immediate end,” Avenatti had tweeted on Sunday.
Although during a Tuesday visit to a Texas detention center Avenatti claimed he came away with the names of about 50 women and children he is representing, according to the San Antonio Express News, Avenatti may have come too late to snare many clients.
On Wednesday, Trump issued an executive order that ended the long-standing federal practice of separating children from their illegal immigrants parents at the border.
Thank you @POTUS for taking critical action ending family separation at our border. Congress must now act + find a lasting solution that is consistent with our shared values;the same values that so many come here seeking as they endeavor to create a better life for their families
— Ivanka Trump (@IvankaTrump) June 20, 2018
The president’s action now sets the stage for Congress, which is scheduled to consider immigration reform legislation this week, according to The New York Times.
As of Thursday, as reported by The Times, it was unclear what would happen to children already separated from their parents during the time federal officials were following past precedents in separating families.
On Thursday, Avenatti was scheduled to be in Arizona to continue his bid to find illegal immigrants to represent.
As Avenatti made a splash along the border, a federal judge ruled against him in his effort to lift a court-imposed stay on Daniels’ civil suit against Trump and his attorney, Michael Cohen, The Daily Caller reported.
The civil suit was put on hold when Cohen became enmeshed in a criminal investigation. This is common practice to allow those involved in a civil case to avoid self-incrimination in a criminal one.
Avenatti argued that statements that had been made by Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani about the scope of the Cohen criminal case had made the stay unnecessary, The Daily Caller reported. But U.S. District Judge James Otero said comments made by parties in the suit were not enough to bring the case out of limbo.
“These statements are not markedly different from the previous claims of falsity or damage that the court considered in its (April) ruling,” he said.
The judge also admonished Avenatti.
“In closing, the court again counsels against the unjustified use of ‘extraordinary’ procedural mechanisms to advance the case,” he wrote. “Absent a compelling showing of good cause, the court will not permit the parties to displace other litigants or violate the court’s rules.”
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