Tuesday’s Supreme Court ruling means that certain immigrants can be held indefinitely by the government if they claim they will be subject to persecution or torture if deported back to their home countries.
The court ruled 6-3, over the objection of three liberal justices that immigrants do not have the right to a hearing on whether they should be released or held while the government reviews their claims.
Justice Samuel Alito stated for the court, “Those aliens aren’t entitled to a bond hearing.”
This case involves individuals who were previously deported but claimed they would be tortured or persecuted if they returned to the United States. One man, a citizen from El Salvador, claimed that he was threatened immediately by a gang upon being deported from El Salvador.
A immigration officer determined that immigrants had a reasonable fear for their safety if they were returned to their home countries. This set off a lengthy evaluation process that could take months or even years.
The court had to decide whether the government could detain the immigrants without allowing an immigration judge to weigh in. Both the Trump administration and immigrants briefed and argued their cases before President Joe Biden was inaugurated in January.
Alito wrote in his opinion for court that the administration’s claim that the relevant provision doesn’t provide for bond hearing was stronger.
Justice Stephen Breyer disagreed. “But why would Congress deny a bond hearing for individuals who reasonably fear persecution and torture, and who face proceedings that could last many months or even years…?” Breyer wrote that he could not find a satisfactory answer to this question.
Although the federal appeals court in Richmond (Virginia) ruled in favor of the immigrants, other appellate courts had sided for the government. The Tuesday decision will have a broad impact on noncitizens, but it will be a national rule.
