The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit rules that longtime illegal immigrants are entitled to bond hearings.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruled that longtime illegal immigrants are entitled to bond hearings while fighting deportation. In a 2-1 decision, the court rejected the administration's argument that millions of people who entered the country unlawfully could be held in mandatory detention without access to bond hearings.
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Judge Berner wrote for the majority, stating that the government's interpretation of federal immigration law raised concerns because it could subject millions of people to detention without bond. Judge Berner compared the mass detention of marginalized individuals without due process to historical periods such as the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. The case involved Oscar Enrique Lopez Garcia and Juan Jose Rivera, who had lived in the U.S. for decades before being detained by ICE. The administration argued that illegal immigrants who entered unlawfully remain "applicants for admission" and should fall under mandatory detention provisions. However, Judge Allison Jones Rushing dissented, arguing that the statutory text clearly supports the administration's position and that the majority focused on moral implications rather than the language Congress enacted.