US Supreme Court Rules Immigrants Can be Indefinitely Detained

In a major blow to immigration rights advocates, the Supreme Court Tuesday ruled that U.S. immigration officials could hold immigrants scheduled to be deported, irrespective of whether they have permanent legal status or are seeking asylum, in detention for an indefinite period of time. 

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In a divisive 5-3 ruling, Justice Elena Kagan, an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, recused and ruled that immigrants don't have the right to periodic bond hearings.

"Immigration officials are authorized to detain certain aliens in the course of immigration proceedings while they determine whether those aliens may be lawfully present in the country," Justice Samuel Alito wrote in the majority opinion.

The Supreme court has sent the case to lower courts to decide over the legality of bond hearings and whether it is constitutional to seek such hearings. 

The American Civil Liberties Union, or ACLU, said it looks forward to arguing the constitutional questions in lower courts. “The Trump administration is trying to expand immigration detention to record-breaking levels as part of its crackdown on immigrant communities,” ACLU attorney Ahilan Arulanantham said, according to Reuters. 

There are nearly 36,000 immigrants held in detention in the United States and the ACLU estimates that about 10 to 20 percent of them have been detained for at least six months.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit in San Francisco had earlier ruled that immigrants should be able to appeal for a bond hearing after at least six months in detention, and if such release is denied then the person would only get a chance at another hearing after remaining in detention for six more months. 

"To impose a rigid six-month rule like the Court of Appeals did is really a mistake," acting Solicitor General Ian Gershengorn said in November 2016.

The ruling came in the case, Jennings v. Rodriguez, in which Alejandro Rodriguez, a lawful permanent resident who came to the country from Mexico as an infant, was held for three years for two non-violent convictions, drug possession and an earlier conviction for joyriding. After spending three years in detention, he filed for a hearing challenging the confinement and has since won his case.