An appeals court has ruled that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) cannot detain immigrants for more than 90 days without providing them an opportunity to seek release on bond while their deportation proceedings are ongoing. The decision by the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, a 2-1 ruling, potentially impacts thousands of immigrants detained by ICE agents within the court's jurisdiction, which includes Texas and Louisiana.
Writing for the majority, Judge Leslie Southwick stated that the U.S. Supreme Court's 2001 findings affirmed that the due process clause protects all individuals, including the two Mexican citizens and one Honduran whose cases were central to this ruling. "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," Southwick wrote.
In a dissenting opinion, Judge Cory Wilson argued that the majority opinion "marginalizes the Constitution's express grant of plenary authority over immigration matters to Congress." Previously, a different panel from the same court had been the first in the nation to support the administration's interpretation of a federal immigration statute that allows for mandatory detention of non-citizens residing in the U.S. However, that February ruling did not address whether the Fifth Amendment's due process clause necessitates offering immigrants a chance to seek bond release by appearing before an immigration judge.
Rebecca Cassler, an attorney representing the migrants with the American Immigration Council, expressed satisfaction with the panel's recognition of the constitutional principle that indefinite government detention violates due process. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) stated it disagrees with the ruling and is "confident in its legal position regarding mandatory detention."
This ruling comes as the administration had previously asked the Supreme Court to review a similar decision from a different appeals court. Federal immigration law stipulates that "applicants for admission" to the country are subject to mandatory detention while their cases move through immigration courts, making them ineligible for bond hearings. Despite a long-standing interpretation of this law, the DHS last year asserted that non-citizens already within the U.S. should also be considered "applicants for admission" and thus subject to mandatory detention, not just those arriving at the border. The Board of Immigration Appeals, part of the Justice Department, adopted this interpretation in September, leading immigration judges across the country to order mandatory detentions.