MICHIGAN — The American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan is praising a recent federal appeals court ruling that upheld detained immigrants’ rights to receive bond hearings while fighting deportation cases, a decision affecting thousands of people in Michigan, Ohio, Tennessee and Kentucky who advocates say are being unlawfully detained by ICE.
The government’s argument that it should “subject long-term law-abiding residents of the United States, such as Petitioners, to the hardship of mandatory detention without due process” was rejected by the court, which found that this sort of detention is unconstitutional and goes against immigration laws and “almost three decades of government practice.”
Lopez-Campos v. Raycraft, which combines four consolidated cases, reflects arguments made by the ACLU against the Trump administration’s policy of denying detained noncitizens bond hearings and opportunities for release, which advocates argue violates both federal immigration law and the Constitution.
The 2-1 ruling issued by the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit found that detained immigrants held for extended periods of time must be given bond hearings to determine whether it is justifiable to continue detaining them. During these hearings, the government is further required to prove that continued detention is necessary, rather than placing the burden completely on the noncitizens being detained.
The Trump administration’s directive reversed a decades-long practice that allowed detained noncitizens living in the United States to appear before an immigration judge and request release to return home while their immigration cases proceeded, a process that often takes months or even years to complete.
The appeals court’s ruling also upheld four separate decisions issued last year by federal district court judges in Michigan, all of which found that longtime U.S. residents were being unlawfully denied access to bond hearings. According to court documents, many of the people involved in the cases have lived in the United States for decades, some since infancy, have U.S. citizen family members and are active members of their local communities. Many federal judges have also issued similar rulings in thousands of cases around the country.
In the decision, the court further emphasized, “Petitioners are more than just names on a pleading … Petitioners have lived in the United States for years or decades … all appear to contribute to their neighborhoods and local communities. Many are the primary breadwinners or essential caregivers for their families, which include their children who were born here and are citizens of the United States.”
Miriam Aukerman, director of strategic litigation for the ACLU of Michigan, said regarding the ruling, “We are delighted that our clients will be able to remain at home with their families, where they belong. The goal of the Trump administration’s cruel detention policy is to lock people up, break their spirits, and make them so desperate that they agree to leave their loved ones. The cruelty of this policy is no accident. Cruelty is the point. We are heartened by the court’s decision, which stops this needless suffering and forces the administration to abide by the law.”
Furthermore, My Khanh Ngo, a senior staff attorney at the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project who argued the appeal, stated, “The courts have yet again correctly rejected the Trump administration’s inhumane mandatory detention policy, concluding its reinterpretation of our country’s detention laws is illegal. We are thrilled for our clients and their families.”
Lastly, Ramis Wadood, a staff attorney for the ACLU of Michigan, stated, “Today’s decision is good news, not just for immigrants and their families, but for everyone who believes in the rule of law and the Constitution. With freedom from detention at stake for potentially millions of people, this decision helps guide us back to the approach that had been in place for decades: the opportunity for immigrants to fight for their right to stay in this country, at home, where they can take care of their families and contribute to their communities.”
As immigration detention policies continue to face legal challenges across the country, advocates believe this ruling marks another major step toward protecting constitutional due process rights for detained immigrants and keeping families together while immigration cases proceed.
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