The Supreme Court of the United States on Tuesday examined a class action lawsuit of migrants held for at least six months without a hearing with an immigration judge.
A sensitive issue for the government of Joe Biden, who had promised a “more humane” immigration policy.
The court, where six of the nine justices are conservatives, appeared divided Tuesday during the debate.
Deported migrants
These are cases of migrants who were previously deported from the United States but returned following suffering persecution or torture in their countries of origin.
Upon their return they entered illegally and were arrested and detained once more, says the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
One of them, Arturo Martínez, was kidnapped by the police following being deported to Mexico, tortured and detained to demand payment of a ransom.
And another, Eduardo Gutiérrez, was tortured by gang members for his sexual orientation, the NGO added.
Upon their return to the United States, these two complainants and others were evaluated by an asylum officer who determined that they were acting in good faith and it was decided that they would await a judicial process to study their situation, the ACLU detailed.
Accumulation of lawsuits
But due to the backlog of lawsuits in court, “cases can take years to conclude, which means that people are routinely detained for periods of time. extremely long times«, Explained the organization.
After months without an answer, they asked to go to an immigration judge to determine if they constituted a flight or community danger.
Otherwise, they are released on bail, which they were denied.
So they decided to go to trial. Two federal appeals courts ruled in 2019 that following six months in detention, immigrants were entitled to a court hearing.
Revoke sentences
The government of former Republican President Donald Trump, who made the fight once morest irregular immigration one of the priorities of his presidency, then asked the Supreme Court to revoke these sentences.
In 2021 the government of his successor, Democrat Joe Biden, followed the fight waged by Trump.
– ‘Deadly consequences’ -The appeals courts ‘were wrong’.
Nothing in the law “refers to a six-month limit, to court hearings for release on bail or to immigration judges,” said his representative in a statement transmitted to the court.
Right to a bond
Stephen G. Breyer, one of the liberal Supreme Court justices, wondered Tuesday.
“Given the history of this nation (…) if you are going to detain a person, not even a criminal, for months, months and months, why don’t they have at least the right to a hearing to set bail? This is what is in question.
Organizations for the defense of migrants revolt once morest the position of the Democratic administration.
This when considering it inconsistent with its electoral promises to humanize the immigration system
Institutional pressure
Matt Adams, a lawyer for the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project told AFP that this case shows “how difficult it is for a new administration to change the positions of (institutional) agencies, unless it is a top priority.”
Also, in this case the Biden government “has yielded to institutional pressure to maintain the line.”
“The Biden administration is clearly on the wrong side in this battle,” criticizes the ACLU.
That insists that denying release on bail can have “deadly consequences (…) especially during the covid-19 pandemic.”
Collective lawsuits
Adams relies on class action lawsuits to move things forward because, he tells AFP, “too often you cannot challenge detention policies through individual cases.”
The reason is that “the person is deported or released before the case progresses through the long judicial process.”
In the United States, the law sets 90 days as the deadline for enforcing an expulsion order, but in some cases it allows going beyond that.
In fiscal year 2021, migrants were held for an average of 45.7 days, according to official statistics.
“But this figure includes all cases, including those of people who do not contest their transfer (…) and also other types of detention,” ACLU’s David Colker told AFP.
