US Court Rulings limit Detention of ILLEGALS .. Many facing Deportation, may be Released

Two recent federal court decisions in Massachusetts could result in the release of nearly 100 immigrants held under mandatory detention laws in jails across the state, part of a nationwide shift to grant bail hearings for immigrants fighting deportation.

US District Judge Michael Ponsor ruled in late May in Springfield that Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials could not automatically detain immigrants fighting deportation for an indefinite amount of time without eventually offering them a bond hearing, and he set a standard of six months.

Days earlier, Ponsor had also ruled in a separate case that federal officials were wrongfully using a mandatory detention law to hold immigrants who had been convicted of a crime, but who had been living free since the crime occurred. In dozens of cases, advocates have found, ICE had detained immigrants for crimes committed months or even years earlier, without offering them bond hearings.

The judge found that the mandatory detention law allows officials to hold an immigrant immediately only at the time of their arrest. They can not be tracked down later and detained. 

The rulings were based on two separate legal theories, but were part of a national trend in the courts that have struck down or limited ICE’s authority to hold immigrants, many of whom are not criminals or have not been convicted of a crime in years, without bond hearings.

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