Supreme Court Rules US Government Can Indefinitely Detain Some Immigrants
By Associated Press
29 June 21
The case involves people who had been previously deported and, when detained
after re-entering the U.S. illegally, claimed that they would be persecuted
or tortured if sent back
The Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that the government can indefinitely detain
certain immigrants who say they will face persecution or torture if they are
deported to their native countries.
Over the dissent of three liberal justices, the court held 6-3 that the
immigrants are not entitled to a hearing about whether they should be
released while the government evaluates their claims.
Justice Samuel Alito wrote for the court that "those aliens are not entitled
to a bond hearing."
The case involves people who had been previously deported and, when detained
after re-entering the United States illegally, claimed that they would be
persecuted or tortured if sent back. One man is a citizen of El Salvador who
said he was immediately threatened by a gang after being deported from the
U.S.
An immigration officer determined that the immigrants had a "reasonable
fear" for their safety if returned to their countries, setting in motion an
evaluation process that can take months or years.
The issue for the court was whether the government could hold the immigrants
without having an immigration judge weigh in. The immigrants and the Trump
administration, which briefed and argued the case before President Joe
Biden's inauguration in January, pointed to different provisions of
immigration law to make their respective cases.
Alito, in his opinion for the court, wrote that the administration's
argument that the relevant provision does not provide for a bond hearing was
more persuasive.
In dissent, Justice Stephen Breyer saw it differently. "But why would
Congress want to deny a bond hearing to individuals who reasonably fear
persecution or torture, and who, as a result, face proceedings that may last
for many months or years.? I can find no satisfactory answer to this
question," Breyer wrote.
The federal appeals court in Richmond, Virginia, had ruled in the
immigrants' favor, but other appellate courts had sided with the government.
Tuesday's decision sets a nationwide rule, but one that affects what lawyers
for the immigrants called a relatively small subset of noncitizens.