U.S. Supreme Court Hands Trump A Victory On Immigration Detention
The Supreme Court on Tuesday endorsed the U.S. government’s authority to detain immigrants awaiting deportation anytime potentially even years after they have completed prison terms for criminal convictions, handing President Donald Trump a victory as he pursues hardline immigration policies.
The court ruled 5-4 along ideological lines, with its conservative justices in the majority and its liberal justices dissenting, that federal authorities could pick up such immigrants and place them into indefinite detention anytime, not just immediately after they finish their prison sentences.
The ruling left open the possibility that some individual immigrants could challenge their detention.
These immigrants potentially could argue that the use of the 1996 federal law involved in the case, the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act, against them long after finishing their sentences would violate their due process rights under the U.S. Constitution.
