Ninth Circuit Rules Detained Immigrants Have Legal Right to Bond Hearings

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (opinion by Judge Wardlaw, with Judge Gould, and D.J. Haddon by designation) ruled yesterday that immigrants who have experienced prolonged detention have a right to a bond hearing to determine whether or not they should continue to be detained.

Rodriguez v. Robbins, a class-action lawsuit, was filed on behalf of the hundreds immigrants whom the government has imprisoned for more than six months in the Los Angeles area. The suit sought the most basic procedural right for detained immigrants—a right to a hearing where they can argue for release on bond.

In September 2012, United States District Judge Terry Hatter issued a preliminary injunction, requiring the government to provide bond hearings to certain categories of immigrants who had been incarcerated for more than six months without a bond hearing, including long-time lawful permanent residents and asylum applicants seeking refuge in the United States.

The Ninth Circuit affirmed the preliminary injunction order.

Counsel for plaintiffs include the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Southern California, the American Civil Liberties Union’s Immigrants’ Rights Project, the Stanford Law School Immigrants’ Rights Clinic, and the law firm of Sidley Austin LLP.

For more information on the case, click here.

KJ