A federal judge has ruled that Donald Trump’s administration cannot keep thousands of migrants held by US immigration authorities in mandatory detention without a chance for release on bond.
U.S. District Judge Sunshine Sykes in Riverside, California certified a nationwide class of individuals who were already living in the United States when they were detained and are legally entitled to a hearing to determine whether they can be released on bond while their deportation cases proceed.
Sykes, along with dozens of other federal judges, ruled last week that the Trump administration’s policy adopted in July of denying bond hearings to immigrants detained during domestic enforcement operations in the US was illegal. While those decisions involved individual migrants or small groups, Sykes on Tuesday extended his rule nationwide.
Nearly 65,000 people were in immigration detention in the US as of last week, according to government data.
The Trump administration has argued that the issue should be reviewed on a case-by-case basis given individuals’ individual circumstances, but Sykes said being denied the right to a bond hearing was a common injury to the class.
“Such a common injury can be resolved in one fell swoop by finding that the new policy violates (immigrants’) due process rights,” Sykes, appointed by Joe Biden, wrote.
The U.S. Justice Department and attorneys for the four immigrants who filed the lawsuit did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Under federal immigration law, “applicants for admission” to the United States are subject to mandatory detention while their cases are pending in immigration courts.
Rejecting a long-standing interpretation of the law, the Trump administration said in July that noncitizens already living in the United States, and not just those arriving at a port of entry at the border, qualify as applicants for entry.
Sykes dissented in his ruling last week, saying the law makes a clear distinction between existing U.S. residents and new arrivals.
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