the second court of appeal to rule in favor of the administration on this issue
A North American appeals court ruled that authorities can continue to detain immigrants without a bail hearing, making it impossible for them to be released while the process is ongoing, in a victory for Donald Trump’s government policy against illegal immigration.
The opinion of a panel of the 8th United States Court of Appeals, in the city of St. Louis, dated Wednesday, overturns a decision by a lower court that required a Mexican citizen detained for lack of legal documents to have the right to a bail hearing before an immigration judge.
It is the second appeals court to rule in favor of the administration on this issue, after the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans last month upheld the Department of Homeland Security’s decision to deny bond hearings to detained immigrants across the country, deeming it in line with the Constitution and federal immigration law.
Attorney General Pam Bondi immediately welcomed the decision on social media, calling it a “GREAT JUDICIAL VICTORY against activist judges and in favor of President Trump’s law and order agenda!”
According to an Associated Press census, more than 30,000 habeas corpus petitions have been filed by immigrants in federal courts alleging illegal detention since Trump took office, and many have been successful.
Both appellate court opinions contradict recent rulings by lower courts across the country that have argued the practice is illegal.
In November, a district court ruling in California gave detained immigrants without criminal records the opportunity to request a bond hearing, which had implications for noncitizens detained across the country.
Under previous administrations, most noncitizens without criminal records who were detained far from the border had the opportunity to request a bond hearing while their cases were processed in immigration court.
Historically, bail was often granted to those who had no criminal convictions and were not a flight risk, and mandatory detention was limited to those who had recently crossed the border.
In the case before the 8th Circuit, the Department of Homeland Security detained the Mexican national without bond and initiated deportation proceedings.
The detainee filed a request for immediate release for a bail hearing, granted by a federal judge in Minnesota, who stated that the complainant had lived in the country for years without applying for naturalization, asylum or refugee status and was therefore not “requesting admission”.
On behalf of the majority (2 for and one against) in Wednesday’s ruling, Circuit Court Judge Bobby E. Shepherd argued that the law was clear and that the detainee could not file the petition on those grounds.
Judge Ralph R. Erickson disagreed, stating that if he had been detained within the past 29 years, the immigrant would have been entitled to a bond hearing during his deportation proceedings.
Now, he wrote, the Circuit Court has ruled that this and millions of other immigrants would be subject to mandatory detention under a new interpretation of “alien seeking admission” that had not been used by the courts or the five previous presidential administrations.
