Immigrants in Deportation Cases Must Get Bond Hearings, 9th Circuit Says
Unlike other defendants in criminal cases, immigrants who are awaiting deportation hearings aren’t automatically considered for bond.
But that is now no longer the rule for those being detained on the West Coast, reports the Daily Journal (sub. req.). Bond hearings must be granted to immigrants who are being held for prolonged periods, the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decided late last week in Luis Felipe Casas-Castrillon v. Department of Homeland Security, No. 07-56261.
The appellant, who is from Colombia and has a green card, has been held for seven years in a federal facility while he appeals his immigration case. Writes the court in its opinion (PDF): “We hold that the government may not detained a legal permanent resident, such as Casas-Castrillon, for a prolonged period without providing him a neutral forum in which to contest the necessity of his continued detention.”
Experts say the decision is important, especially at a time when the federal government is detaining an increasing number of immigrants.
“At least in the 9th Circuit, there is now a precedent that a bond hearing must be held,” says professor Stephen Yale-Loehr of Cornell Law School. “It remains to be seen whether bond hearings will be held more quickly than in the past.”
