(Correct day of the week in paragraphs 1 and 12)
Nate Raymond
Feb 18 (Reuters) – A federal judge on Wednesday struck down an administrative council’s decision upholding the Trump administration’s policy of mandating thousands of people arrested during an immigration crackdown without a chance for bail.
U.S. District Judge Sunshine Sykes in Riverside, Calif., vacated the Board of Immigration Appeals decision after finding the government failed to comply with her earlier order declaring the underlying policy illegal.
Sykes, who was appointed by former Democratic President Joe Biden, called the administration’s actions “shameless” and accused it of trying to “continue their illegal actions” by refusing to hold bail hearings even after her ruling.
“Respondents have crossed far beyond the bounds of constitutional conduct,” Sykes wrote.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Department of Justice, which oversees the committee, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Under federal immigration law, “admission applicants” to the United States are subject to mandatory detention while their cases are pending in immigration court and are ineligible for bail hearings.
As part of President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, the Department of Homeland Security last year bucked its longstanding interpretation of the law by taking the position that noncitizens already living in the United States, not just those arriving at border ports of entry, would qualify as applicants for admission.
The Board of Immigration Appeals, an arm of the Justice Department, issued a decision in September adopting that interpretation, leading immigration judges hired by the Justice Department nationwide to order the detentions.
Sykes declared the DHS policy unlawful in a December ruling but did not reverse the board’s decision.
But she said it was clear further relief was needed after Chief Immigration Judge Teresa Riley issued guidance directing her colleagues not to be bound by the Sykes ruling and should continue to follow the board’s decisions.
These immigration judges are employed by the Department of Justice.
In Wednesday’s decision, Sykes criticized the Department of Homeland Security for repeatedly inaccurately suggesting that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations were limited to targeting the “worst of the worst” criminal noncitizens.
“Perhaps this sentence simply reflects the administration’s harsh and malicious behavior,” Sykes wrote. “While these press releases may contain a grain of truth, they ignore a greater, more terrifying reality.”
(Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Stephen Coates)