An internal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) memo sent on July 8 "declared that immigrants who arrived in the United States illegally are no longer eligible for a bond hearing as they fight deportation proceedings in court," The Washington Post reported on Monday. The new policy means millions of undocumented immigrants may be detained by ICE, potentially for years, as they await a resolution to their immigration case.
In the memo reviewed by the Post, Todd M. Lyons, acting director of ICE, directed officers to detain immigrants who entered illegally "for the duration of their removal proceedings." The policy change will significantly impact immigrants currently living in the United States who have been historically allowed to request a bond hearing before an immigration judge if detained by ICE. "Lyons wrote that the Trump administration's departments of Homeland Security and Justice had 'revisited its legal position on detention and release authorities' and determined that such immigrants 'may not be released from ICE custody,'" according to the Post. Only in rare exceptions may immigrants be released on parole, a determination that will be left "up to an immigration officer, not a judge."
"This is their way of putting in place nationwide a method of detaining even more people…without any real review of their individual circumstances," Greg Chen, senior director of government relations for the American Immigration Lawyers Association, told the Post. Since taking office, President Donald Trump has not been shy about wanting to increase immigrant detention numbers. The administration has experimented with controversial methods of detaining immigrants in both state-run detention facilities, like Florida's Alligator Alcatraz, and other countries, like El Salvador, to meet Trump's deportation goals.
