Supreme Court to look at deporting immigrants with minor past crimes

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court agreed Monday to decide another case testing the Trump administration’s power to arrest and jail immigrants facing deportation, including long-time lawful residents who committed minor offenses years ago.

The justices will review a class-action ruling from California that held that immigrants who were released after serving time in local and state jails may not be detained later by federal border against for possible deportation and held indefinitely without a hearing, if they pose no danger to the public and are not likely to flee.

Administration lawyers appealed the ruling of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, arguing that federal law calls for “mandatory detention” for all noncitizens who face possible deportation because of a criminal record.

They said the 9th Circuit’s approach will lead to a “gap in custody” and “frustrate the (government’s) ability to remove deportable criminal aliens from the United States.” And they placed part of the blame on “state and local jurisdictions (who) do not always cooperate” with federal efforts to arrest immigrants who are leaving jails.

The case, to be heard in the fall, sets up another clash between “sanctuary” cities and counties and federal immigration agents who seek to detain and deport immigrants who have criminal records.

In deciding the case, the 9th Circuit said that more than 30,000 noncitizens are held every day in the United States in “prison-like conditions” while they challenge the government’s efforts to deport them. The judges said the mandatory detention rule covers those with a “broad range of crimes” on their records, from violent felonies to simple drug possession. And it applies to longtime, lawful residents who have lived and worked in the United States for decades, they said.