The Supreme Court ruled this Monday that immigrants detained for long periods under the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency do not have the right to a hearing to request bond, in order to to continue their cases in freedom.
The decision could mainly affect immigrants who have been previously deported or have a final order of deportation, although activists consider that this affects all the people detained.
In the opinion of Judge Sonia Sotomayor, the federal government is not obliged to grant bail hearings for an immigrant to continue his case in freedom.
“ that requires the government to provide bond hearings before immigration judges after six months of detention,” Sotomayor’s opinion states. “[Sobre todo] with the government assuming the burden of proving clear and convincing evidence that a detained non-citizen represents a flight risk or danger to the community.”
That decision was given by the case Johnson v. Arteaga-Martinez, which involved Antonio Arteaga-Martinez, a Mexican citizen who entered the US without authorization and was ordered removed, but had already entered irregularly on other occasions.
Arteaga-Martinez filed a “withholding of removal” case alleging persecution or torture in Mexico, but that legal remedy can last for months or years, so the Mexican asked that he be granted a hearing to set a bond and continue his case in freedom. Lower courts agreed with him, but not the Supreme Court.
The second case is Garland v. Alemán González, which consolidates two class action lawsuits, on immigrants who claimed the right to bail after subsequent deportation orders. This case had the opinion of Judge Samuel Alito.
The comprehensive ruling represents a severe blow for immigrants detained with deportation orders, since the immigration courts have a backlog of files of more than 1.5 million.
It should be noted that Judge Sotomayor indicated that the federal authorities can decide whether to grant the bail hearing, but they are not obliged to do so.
“Denying people bond hearings can have life-threatening consequences. Immigrants deserve due process and a meaningful opportunity to be released from ICE detention”, considered the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).