A sharply divided 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 on July 2 that illegal immigrants must receive a bond hearing within 90 days. One of the two judges said 30 days would be a better time limit.

Impact on Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi

The ruling affects three of the states with some of the largest detention centers — Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas. Illegal immigrants from across the country are often transferred to these states.

According to Reed Dunlea, a spokesperson for the New York Immigration Coalition, many New Yorkers are held at detention centers in these states due to the frequent movement of illegal immigrants by ICE, which isolates them from their lawyers, families, and support systems.

The American Immigration Council, which was a party in the case, noted that the case turned on three longtime Texas residents with no criminal history and U.S. citizen children, all detained in traffic stops.

The decision "affirms that constitutional rights do not disappear simply because someone is in immigration proceedings," said Rebecca Cassier, an attorney for the council who argued in the case, in a statement.

The Department of Homeland Security disagrees with the decision and looks forward to Supreme Court review: "DHS strongly disagrees with the Fifth Circuit panel and is confident in its legal position regarding mandatory detention."

National Implications

The ruling is another blow to the Trump administration’s mandatory detention policy, which has faced widespread rebellion among federal judges. Other appeals courts have also struck it down in a conflict likely to be heard in October by the U.S. Supreme Court.

The immigrant detention population peaked in January at an all-time high of more than 70,000 people. It declined to about 60,000 in April as fewer non-criminal illegal immigrants were detained in the wake of controversy and protests over enforcement in Minnesota and other places.

Original reporting: The Connecticut Mirror — read the source article.