Second Circuit Rejects Mandatory Detention Policy

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled unanimously on Tuesday that the Trump administration's policy of mandatory detention without bond hearings for most noncitizens facing deportation proceedings violates federal immigration law. The 3-0 decision, covering New York, Connecticut and Vermont, requires immigration judges in those states to provide bond hearings to individuals arrested in the U.S. interior, even if they entered unlawfully years earlier.

The case centered on Ricardo Aparecido Barbosa Da Cunha, a Brazilian national who entered the country around 2004 or 2005, lived in the U.S. for more than 20 years, applied for asylum in 2016 and had no criminal record. Immigration authorities arrested him last year while he was driving to work. A lower court granted his habeas corpus petition, leading to a bond hearing and his release after officials determined he posed no flight risk or public safety threat. Attorneys from the American Civil Liberties Union represented him.

Judge Joseph F. Bianco, appointed by President Donald Trump, wrote the 61-page opinion for the panel, which included Judge José A. Cabranes, a Clinton appointee, and Judge Alison J. Nathan, a...