A panel of judges on a notorious conservative federal appeals court has ruled that people in Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention must be granted a bond hearing before a judge within 90 days of their arrest.
The ruling marks at least the fourth such federal court order striking down a chief component of the administration’s attempts to swiftly detain and deport tens of thousands of people from the country before they’ve had their day in court, which civil rights groups and immigration lawyers have called stark violations of due process rights.
“It is part of the historic majesty of this long-ago founding charter that it makes no exceptions in providing basic rights to those within our boundaries, including a right to be heard when personal liberty is taken,” wrote Judge Leslie Southwick, who was appointed by George W. Bush to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in Louisiana.
The 2-1 opinion was joined by Barack Obama appointee Judge James Graves. Judge Cory Wilson, a Trump appointee, dissented.
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By July, ICE had issued a sweeping policy of mandatory detention for immigrants arrested inside the U.S., keeping people in detention for weeks or months no matter how long they have lived in the country or whether they have a criminal record.
The administration’s attempt to compare a person who was arrested shortly after illegally crossing the border to an immigrant who has built a life in the country after arriving decades ago “is a complete fantasy,” Judge Southwick wrote.
That policy opened the floodgates to thousands of lawsuits from immigrants seeking their release over due process violations, cases that have overwhelmed federal courts and kicked off several legal battles to determine whether the practice is even constitutional.
Federal court judges have overwhelmingly rejected the administration’s policy of denying bond hearings, teeing up a likely Supreme Court battle in the coming months. The Trump administration asked the justices to take up the question next term.
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In Thursday’s ruling, the judges underscored the fact that the vast majority of people held in ICE detention did not have criminal records and did not pose a threat to their communities, a primary reason for holding people behind bars before they’ve had a chance to appeal.
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Last week, the court’s conservative majority gave the government greater flexibility to target green card holders, allowed Homeland Security to revoke humanitarian protections for tens of thousands of immigrants, and gave the government permission to indefinitely block people seeking asylum from entering the country.