High court rejects bond hearings for immigrants facing deportation

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court ruled Monday that immigrants being held for deportation have no right to seek their release on bond, regardless of how long they may be held.

The justices ruled unanimously that federal immigration law calls for holding noncitizens who returned illegally to the United States and generally “removing” them within 90 days. They may be detained longer if they have pending claims, the court said, but they do not have a right under the law to go free on bond.

“There is no plausible construction of the text of (immigration law) that requires the government to provide bond hearings before immigration judges after six months of detention,” said Justice Sonia Sotomayor, speaking for the court in Johnson v. Arteagamartinez.

She said Antonio Arteaga-martinez, a citizen of Mexico, had entered this country illegally four times. He said he was beaten by a gang in Mexico and fled north for safety. He was held in Pennsylvania for deportation but filed a claim for asylum.

After six months of detention, a federal judge and the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia ruled he could be released on bond.

In a second, related 6-3 decision, the high court also overturned the 9th U.S. Circuit Court in San Francisco, which upheld broad, “classwide injunctive relief ” that required bond hearings for those who had been held for deportation for more than six months in Seattle and San Francisco.

The Biden administration appealed that ruling.

In overturning it, Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. said a 1996 immigration law “bars classwide relief ” for noncitizens who are held by the government. He said federal judges are limited to deciding individual claims.

This time, Sotomayor dissented and said the ruling goes beyond bond hearings and will leave “lower federal courts powerless to issue classwide injunctive relief ... which will leave many vulnerable noncitizens unable to protect their rights.”

Justices Elena Kagan and Stephen Breyer agreed.

In recent years, the more conservative court has cut back on the power of judges to extend leniency to immigrants who are fighting deportation. The justices have done so by strictly interpreting provisions that Congress adopted in 1996.

At issue in the background of both cases was a 2001 decision in which the court said it would be unconstitutional to hold a noncitizen indefinitely with no hearing and no chance to be released on bond. Judges have cited that ruling to justify bond hearings after six months.