The Supreme Court agreed to hear a dispute concerning the mandatory immigration detention policy, according to reports. The Department of Homeland Security issued guidance regarding mandatory detention for illegal immigrants.
This new guidance departs from an interpretation that had been accepted for nearly thirty years, which permitted bond release. A legal challenge was brought forward by Ricardo Aparecido Barbosa da Cunha.
Michael KT Tan, deputy director of the ACLU's Immigrants' Rights Project and a lawyer for Barbosa da Cunha, stated, "The courts have repeatedly and resoundingly rejected the Trump administration's radical misinterpretation of the law. Try as it might, the government cannot twist the law to detain immigrants for months or even years on end without a bond hearing." The Department of Homeland Security took the stance that non-citizens residing in the United States qualify as "applicants for admission" subject to mandatory detention.
A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson stated that the implementation put the law as Congress intended it. The Second Circuit ruling described the administration's interpretation as having an implausible basis for mass detention.
Immigrants filed over 73,000 cases in federal court this year. Furthermore, a Reuters analysis indicated that hundreds of judges had ruled more than 4,400 times that detention was unlawful.
The Supreme Court has scheduled arguments for another immigration case for December.
