The US Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to review the Trump administration’s policy of denying bond hearings to immigrants detained while facing possible deportation, taking up a legal dispute over whether the practice violates federal law.
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The justices will consider whether immigrants who have been living in the United States are entitled to hearings to determine if they should remain in detention while challenging their deportation.
Appeals court judges in nine of the 11 federal circuits have ruled that detaining immigrants without bond hearings violates federal law. Their decisions conflict with rulings by the 5th and 8th circuits, which held that immigrants accused of illegally entering or remaining in the country must be detained while their deportation cases are pending.
The Trump administration has asked the Supreme Court to resolve the divide, arguing that it is “disrupting the orderly administration of immigration law.” Government lawyers said courts have been inundated with thousands of petitions challenging the administration’s interpretation of the law.
“The result is an unworkable patchwork of inconsistent immigration enforcement, where aliens present without admission are subject to mandatory detention in some circuits but are entitled to bond hearings and often released in others,” lawyers for the Republican administration wrote.
The case was brought by immigrants represented by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). Their lawyers said hundreds of district court judges, along with most federal appeals courts, have rejected the administration’s interpretation.
The plaintiffs argue that the policy seeks to deny bond hearings to immigrants arrested anywhere in the country, regardless of how long they have lived in the US, rather than applying only to noncitizens apprehended at the border.
“Millions of noncitizens could be affected by the government’s new interpretation,” ACLU attorneys wrote.
The administration maintains that its mandatory detention policy is authorised under a 1996 immigration law. The change departs from the practice of previous administrations, which generally allowed most noncitizens without criminal records who were arrested away from the border to seek bond hearings.
