The Supreme Court of Justice announced that immigrants detained by immigration (I.C.E) are not entitled to bail. How could this situation affect detained family and friends?
The Supreme Court of the United States has considered that immigrants detained in immigration centers do not have the right to bail while their deportation is being evaluated. The ruling applies equally to legal residents accused of serious crimes, as well as to undocumented immigrants that have requested asylum. This would imply that immigrants could be detained indefinitely, which is worrisome for family and friends, considering that there is a delay of 2 years to resolve almost 700,000 cases of pending deportations.
By a decision of 5 to 3 the judges of the Supreme Court decided that the Government can detain immigrants for an indefinite time. This decision could cause thousands of people in process for deportation to spend months or years behind bars.
As is known in ordinary criminal laws, detainees cannot be deprived of their liberty for as long as the authorities want without any judge being able to see if the detainee has the right to leave or not. Unfortunately, this is different in the laws of immigration. Although an immigration judge has the discretion to grant bail, what has occurred is that the immigrant can no longer count on the prerogative or privilege of bail as a law mandate.
