Illegal Aliens

Court allows aliens to be detained without bond

Since President Donald Trump took office, he has kept a key campaign promise that appealed to many of his supporters—a crackdown on illegal immigration.

No, the wall has yet to be built. But arrests of people illegally in the United States are up significantly.

One problem with that is an arrest is one thing, deportation another. It can take months, even years, of legal wrangling for an alien to be deported, even if that person has a record of criminal activity in this country.

Some believe illegal aliens held prior to deportation should be released from detention on bond while the process is under way. The federal government generally opposes the idea.

A lawsuit over the matter made its way to the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, the nation’s most liberal (and most reversed) appellate court.

The 9th Circuit ruled illegal immigrants in detention must be given a bond hearing every six months. The federal government took the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.

On Monday, in a 5-3 decision, the court overturned the 9th Circuit. Writing for the majority, Justice Samuel Alito said the law as written allows an illegal alien to be held until the proceedings. So as it stand right now, illegal aliens can be detained for as long as it takes to decide whether to deport them, even if that means years.

But in upholding the current law, the nation’s highest court did not rule on whether illegal immigrants have a constitutional right to a bond hearing. That’s a question for another day and we can be sure that day will eventually come.

In our view, illegal aliens are inherent flight risks. They broke the law to come here and will break the law to stay. It only makes sense to hold them until a decision is made on deportation.