United States of America

US: Court Finds Against ICE Detainment Practices

Is mandatory ICE detention without bond hearings a legal necessity or an unconstitutional overreach?

Published JUL 3

US: Court Finds Against ICE Detainment Practices

Story

Above: The Delaney Hall Immigration Detention Center in Newark on June 12. Image credit: Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

The Facts

A divided 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on Thursday that ICE cannot detain individuals for more than 90 days without a bond hearing. The decision could affect thousands held in Texas and Louisiana.
Newsmax
Independent
The 2-1 ruling overrides a February decision by a different panel of the same court that had upheld the Trump administration's interpretation of a federal immigration statute allowing mandatory detention of noncitizens.
FOX News
Politico
Judge Leslie Southwick, a George W. Bush appointee, wrote for the majority that the due process clause "makes no exceptions in providing basic rights to those within our boundaries." Trump appointee Judge Cory Wilson dissented.
The Texas Tribune
Newsmax
Devdiscourse
The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals also ruled against the administration's detention policy, ordering the release of Rigoberto Santillan Quiroz, who has spent eight months in ICE detention after a traffic stop in Oklahoma.
Albuquerque Journal
CBS News
Federal appeals courts remain divided on the mandatory detention policy. Two circuits have sided with the Trump administration while at least three others have ruled that noncitizens living in the U.S. are entitled to bond hearings.
The Texas Tribune
Albuquerque Journal
ICE reportedly made more than 10,000 arrests over a five-day period in late June, averaging roughly 2,000 per day — up from around 1,000 earlier in the year — as the number of people in ICE detention climbed to roughly 39,000.
Daily Wire
Los Angeles Times
Lake County Record-Bee

Sources Split

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The Spin

Left narrative

The 10th Circuit's ruling is a landmark check on executive overreach. ICE cannot simply lock people up indefinitely without a bond hearing. Detaining longtime U.S. residents like Rigoberto Santillan-Quiroz, who posed no flight risk, as if they were border crossers is a constitutional stretch that four federal appeals courts have now rejected. Bond hearings are a bedrock due process protection.

The Denver Post

American Civil Liberties Union

Right narrative

Mandatory detention of undocumented immigrants during removal proceedings is legally sound and courts are confirming it. The 8th Circuit recently overturned an activist ruling and upheld ICE's detention policy, and the DoJ has prevailed in every circuit court on the government's authority to hold unadmitted aliens without bond. Releasing detainees mid-proceedings undermines the entire deportation mission.