New Supreme Court Immigration Deportation Rulings

The United States Supreme Court handed down decisions on two deportation cases the week of June 13 and declined to hear a 3rd case involving the public charge policy for green card applicants.

SCOTUS Rules Against Detained Immigrants Facing Deportation

On Monday, June 13, the Supreme Court ruled against detained immigrants who want release hearings while fighting deportation orders.

1. The Supreme Court said federal law does not require a bond hearing after six months of detention in which the Government bears the burden of proving, by clear and convincing evidence, that a noncitizen poses a flight risk or a danger to the community.
   In Johnson v. Arteaga-Martinez, Antonio Arteaga-Martinez, a Mexican citizen who entered the United States unlawfully multiple times, said he had been beaten violently by members of a criminal street gang. He has lived in the United States for six years and was expecting the birth of his first child when U. S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) issued a warrant for his arrest. Arteaga-Martinez argued that he should be released while his case was under review because he was not a flight risk or danger to the community. A lower court ordered that the government hold a bond hearing for Arteaga-Martinez, where he was granted bond. The government appealed.

   The Supreme Court looked at 8 U. S. C. §§1226(a)(6) and indicated that the plain text of the statute did not require a bond hearing after six months of detention in which the Government bears the burden of proving, by clear and convincing evidence, that a noncitizen poses a flight risk or a danger to the community.

   2. The Supreme Court said undocumented immigrants with similar cases cannot band together as a class to seek relief but must pursue their cases individually.SCOTUS overturned a ruling of the U.S. Court of Appeals Garland v. Aleman Gonzalez for the 9th Circuit which said it was proper for federal courts to impose broad “class-wide injunctive relief” for similarly situated immigrants who had been detained for more than six months.