In another major win for the Trump Administration in its Herculean task of fixing the illegal immigration woes foisted upon the country by years of reckless policies, particularly under President Joe Biden, a key administrative law court has ruled that illegal aliens cannot be released on bond, meaning they must be kept in prison and it is much easier for ICE to handle them.
For reference, the court’s critical but underreported on decision came in early September, when the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA), which is the administrative component of the Department of Justice (DOJ) that considers appeals from trial-level immigration court decisions, ruled in favor of the Department of Homeland Security in Matter of Yajure Hurtado.
In the ruling, BIA ruled that illegal aliens are ineligible to be released on bond by immigration court judges, as under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), which covers such situations, immigration judges entirely lack jurisdiction to grant bond to illegal entrants. The ruling is a huge win for DHS, and came mostly just because DHS finally asked the BIA to rule in its favor on the matter, which happened thanks to the plain language of the statute.
It is Section 103 of the INA that gave various immigration authorities to executive branch agencies. It provides, “The Secretary of Homeland Security shall be charged with the administration and enforcement of this chapter and all other laws relating to the immigration and naturalization of aliens, except insofar as this chapter or such laws relate to the powers, functions, and duties conferred upon the President … the Secretary of State, the officers of the Department of State, or diplomatic or consular officers.” Critically, it then continues, “Provided, however, that determination and ruling by the Attorney General with respect to all questions of law shall be controlling.”
That, in turn, matters because the immigration judges were not then subdelegated the authority to release illegal aliens on bond. The Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), describing the ruling, noted: “The BIA concluded that because the release authority in section 236(a) “does not purport to overrule the mandatory detention requirements for arriving aliens and applicants for admission explicitly set forth in section 235(b)(1) and (2) of the INA”, no alien present in the United States who hasn’t been admitted is eligible for release by EOIR immigration judges or the BIA, regardless of how long they’ve been here, even if they were arrested by ICE with a warrant.”
So, the three-judge BIA panel has, with the stroke of a pen, blocked illegal aliens from being released on bond by immigration judges. Describing why it took so long for it to rule on the obvious matter, the BIA noted that the DHS had not asked it to do so. It began by noting the problem has been long extant, “We acknowledge that for years Immigration Judges have conducted bond hearings for aliens who entered the United States without inspection.”
Continuing, it noted that though the problem has existed for years, it was not until now, under the Trump Administration, that the court finally ruled as much, saying, “However, we do not recall either DHS or its predecessor, the Immigration and Naturalization Service [INS], previously raising the current issue that is before us.”
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Predictably, the left has freaked out about the ruling. For example, Dana Leigh Marks, a former head of the immigration judges’ union, said, “It’s horrific. No self-respecting lawyer could look themselves in the mirror and take these positions. … It’s a total cynical move to try to force people to litigate their cases while they’re detained.”
Watch Tom Homan comment on the administration’s merciless stance toward illegal immigration here: