Does the U.S. government have the right to jail millions of people, without a bond hearing, if they’re accused of crossing the border without authorization — even if they’ve lived in the United States without incident for years, and are otherwise following legal procedures?
The Trump administration thinks so, based on its re-interpretation of a 30-year-old immigration law. The administration has spent months jailing thousands of people, without bond hearings, who would otherwise be living freely in the United States, including those without criminal histories and with work permits.
Multiple federal appeals courts have weighed in — and disagreed on — the issue. That likely leaves one place to make the final call.
“I think it’s likely this issue will be resolved by the [Supreme] Court,” Michael Tan, deputy director of the ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project, told HuffPost Wednesday.
By next week, judges in 11 of the 12 federal appeals circuits will either have ruled on the question or be considering arguments about it — an extremely unusual situation resulting from thousands of legal challenges from across the country. The only circuit not considering the mass detention policy is in Washington, D.C., because there’s no immigration detention center there.
