The court found that denying hearings to detainees with community ties and no criminal records conflicts with the Immigration and Nationality Act.
Illegal Immigrants held in Tacoma, Washington, have the right to request to be released on bond, according to a federal judge’s ruling.
U.S. District Judge Tiffany Cartwright issued a summary judgment impacting those detained at the Northwest Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) processing Center on Sept. 30, saying some detainees “are not subject to mandatory detention.” As such, the judge ruled that holding them without the possibility of bond violates the Immigration and Nationality Act.
Those being held at the facility now have the right to request to be released, despite the federal government’s policy that denies bond hearings for jailed illegal immigrants.
The case was filed on behalf of several detainees at the Washington facility, including Roman Rodriguez, who has lived in Washington state for 16 years prior to his arrest for immigration violations.
In July, the acting director of ICE, Todd Lyons, adopted a policy for immigration judges that does not allow for illegal immigrants to be released without a specific exception from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
According to the judge’s order, the national policy asserts that “all noncitizens who have not been lawfully admitted, including those already present in the United States, will no longer be eligible for release from ICE custody for the duration of their removal proceedings except by discretionary parole.”
The policy also states that “even those with strong ties to the community and no criminal records” are not eligible for a bond hearing, and the court found that the class had a “plausible claim” that the delays in hearing their appeals violate due process.
According to the attorney for the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, Matt Adams, the judge’s ruling only applies to those held in that city, and won’t be a precedent applied for all ICE facilities nationwide.
However, a similar suit has been filed in California by several groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), to challenge the rule for all illegal immigrants.
The ACLU is also pushing for a change in Massachusetts via a complaint against DHS, saying that the denial of bond hearings is a violation of due process.
“When the government arrests any person inside the United States, it must be required to prove to a judge that there is an actual reason for the person’s detention,” Daniel McFadden, managing attorney at the ACLU of Massachusetts, said in a statement. “Our client and others like him have a constitutional and statutory right to receive a bond hearing for exactly that purpose.”
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