A federal judge has thrown out a decision by the Board of Immigration Appeals that endorsed the Trump administration’s policy of placing thousands of people arrested under its immigration crackdown in mandatory detention without a chance to be released on bond.
U.S. District Judge Sunshine Sykes in Riverside, California, vacated the decision after it was found that the administration had failed to comply with a prior order issued that had declared the underlying policy unlawful.
Mandatory Detention And No Bond Hearings
Sykes, appointed by former Democratic President Joe Biden, called the administration’s actions “shameless” and accused the government of trying to “continue their campaign of illegal action” by repeatedly refusing to grant a bond hearing despite her ruling.
“Respondents have far crossed the boundaries of constitutional conduct,” Sykes wrote.
Under federal immigration law, applicants for admission to the U.S. are subject to mandatory detention while their cases advance to immigration courts and are ineligible for bond hearings.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), last year, took the position that non-citizens who are already residing in the United States and not only those who arrive at a port of entry along the border, are qualified as applicants for admission.
The Board of Immigration Appeals, under the Justice Department, adopted the same interpretation in September, which led to immigration judges nationally employed by the department to mandate detention.
Immigration Judges Support DHS Policy
Sykes’s ruling in December declared the DHS policy as unlawful but refrained from vacating the board’s decision. She claimed it was clear that further relief was needed after Chief Immigration Judge Teresa Riley issued guidance instructing her colleagues, all of whom are employed by the Justice Department, not to follow Sykes’ ruling and to continue enforcing the board’s decision.
Sykes criticised the DHS for suggesting that operations by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement were limited to targeting criminal non-citizens who they allege are the “worst of the worst.”
“Maybe that phrase merely mirrors the severity and ill-natured conduct by the Government,” Sykes wrote. “Even though these press releases might contain an inkling of truth, they ignore a greater, more dire reality.”
(with inputs from Reuters)
