Last month, U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Cummings, who found the government violated the agreement, ordered the release of more than 600 immigrants on bond, which the appeals court paused. Roughly 450 remain in custody, attorneys say.
In the 2-1 opinion, the appeals court said Cummings overstepped his authority on the blanket release of the detainees without assessing each case individually. The consent decree “carefully maps out what the district judge can or cannot order” to balance enforcement and public safety, according to the opinion. But the ruling also said the Trump administration wrongly categorized all immigrant arrestees as subject to mandatory detention.
Plaintiffs’ attorneys said they were disheartened by the ruling but glad the court upheld the extension of the agreement, which among other things requires ICE to show documentation for each arrest it makes. Federal judges elsewhere including in Colorado have also ruled to limit warrantless arrests.
Well, but if you’re buying the Trump people’s crazy counterfactual that 100% of these people are all these Willie Hortons running around ready to murder some suburbanite because they weren’t in custody, then it kind of would make sense sometimes to keep them in. Even if they’re scheduled for court at a later date and maybe to get deported or something at that time.
I know that isn’t actually true, I’m just saying that even if it were true, the law is set up to let dangerous people go back into society sometimes, if the cops are breaking the rules about how they’re supposed to handle them, and that it’s a good thing that things are set up that way.