Appeals court blocks mandatory detention of immigrants past 90 days without bond hearing
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An appeals court on Thursday ruled that US Immigration and Customs Enforcement cannot detain immigrants for more than 90 days without giving them the opportunity to request release on bond while their deportation continues.
In a 2-1 decision, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals disagreed with the administration, which could affect thousands of immigrants arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in states under the court’s jurisdiction, including Texas and Louisiana.
Justice Leslie Southwick, writing for the majority, said the US Supreme Court found in 2001 that the due process clause protects everyone, including two Mexican nationals and one Honduran whose cases were at issue in the case.
“It is part of the history of this long-established constitutional monarchy that there are no exceptions to the basic rights granted to those within our borders, including the right to be heard in the exercise of personal liberties,” Southwick wrote.
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In a 2-1 decision, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals sided against the Trump administration. (Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images)
In a dissenting opinion, Justice Cory Wilson said the majority “ignores the Constitution’s grant of absolute authority over immigration matters to Congress.”
A separate panel of the same court previously was the first in the country to uphold the administration’s novel interpretation of federal immigration law that allows for the mandatory detention of non-citizens living in the US.
However, that February decision did not mention that the due process protections of the Fifth Amendment to the US Constitution require giving immigrants the opportunity to request release on bond by appearing before an immigration judge.
Rebecca Cassler, an immigration attorney at the American Immigration Council, said in a statement to Reuters that the group “is pleased that this panel recognized the basic constitutional principle that the due process clause does not allow the government to detain them indefinitely.”
The ruling could affect thousands of immigrants detained by ICE agents in states outside the court’s jurisdiction. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File)
The Department of Homeland Security, in a statement sent to this newspaper, said it does not agree with the decision, adding that it is “legally confident about the mandatory detention.”
Fox News Digital has contacted the department for comment.
Last week, the administration asked the Supreme Court to review the same decision by a different appeals court.
Federal immigration law states that “applicants for admission” into the country are subject to mandatory detention while their cases are pending in immigration courts, making them ineligible for bond hearings.
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The Department of Homeland Security said it disagreed with the decision, adding that it was “confident in its legal position regarding mandatory detention.” ((AP Photo/Ryan Murphy, File)
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Despite long-standing interpretations of immigration law, the Department of Homeland Security said last year that non-citizens already in the US qualify as “admission applicants” under mandatory detention, rather than people arriving at the border.
The Board of Immigration Appeals, part of the Department of Justice, announced in September that it accepted the Department of Homeland Security’s explanation.
Immigration judges hired by the department began ordering mandatory detention across the country.
Reuters contributed to this report.
