COVID-19 Summary: This is a class action case filed against the Trump Administration regarding a failure to provide fair hearings to immigration detainees. The plaintiffs also alleged that the COVID-19 pandemic was an aggravating factor in the case. The court granted a preliminary injunction on May 29, 2020 and the defendants appealed. The court denied class certification on December 4, as the case was currently stayed pending appeal.
On April 30, 2020, the three immigration detainees in Maryland filed a class action lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s failure to provide fair hearings to people in immigration detention on behalf of themselves and others similarly situated. The plaintiffs were represented by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Maryland, the Capital Area Immigrants' Rights (CAIR) Coalition, and a public interest organization. The complaint and habeas petition pointed to two flaws in the government's bond hearings that made subsequent detentions a violation of procedural due process and the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). The plaintiffs sought declaratory and injunctive relief that prohibits further detention without a constitutionally adequate bond hearing that places the burden of proof on the government and requires the court to consider ability to pay in setting bond amount. The case was assigned to Judge Catherine Blake.
The complaint alleged first that the government jails noncitizens pending their removal proceedings without being required to demonstrate that such detention was even warranted in the first place, placing the burden of proof on the noncitizen to satisfy an immigration judge (IJ) that they posed no danger or flight risk. Second, the government then conditioned release on payment of a money bond, without any requirement that IJs consider the noncitizen’s financial circumstances when setting a bond amount. As a result, the plaintiffs (and other similarly situated) were detained arbitrarily, either because the government was not required to prove that their imprisonment was in fact necessary, or their bond that was set unnecessarily beyond their financial means. Together, these created a process that violated their procedural due process rights and the INA. The complaint also included the COVID-19 pandemic as an aggravating factor in the case.
On May 5, 2020 the plaintiffs filed a motion for a temporary restraining order and/or preliminary injunction, which the court granted on May 29. 463 F.Supp.3d 632. The court ordered narrowly tailored relief to resolve the deficiencies in the current bond hearing procedures.
On May 22, the plaintiffs filed their motion for class certification. The purported class was defined as all people who are or will be detained under the INA and had or will have a bond hearing before the immigration court in Baltimore, Maryland. On July 27, the defendants filed an appeal (No. 20-1828) to the Fourth Circuit challenging the preliminary injunction. The defendants submitted a motion to stay proceedings on August 25, which was granted on August 26.
On appeal, there were three issues: (1) whether due process requires the government to bear the burden of justifying a noncitizen’s continued detention by clear and convincing evidence at bond hearings under the INA; (2) whether due process requires an IJ to consider a noncitizen’s ability to pay a bond and his suitability for release on alternative conditions of supervision at bond hearings under the INA; and (3) whether the INA barred the class-wide preliminary injunction. The government filed its opening brief on December 4. The plaintiffs have filed three motions for extended time; their response brief is currently due on June 4, 2021.
Meanwhile, back in the district court, Judge Blake denied class certification on December 4, 2020; the parties were briefing the preliminary injunction order's appeal in the Fourth Circuit and the case had been stayed. Judge Blake denied the motion without prejudice to renewal after the conclusion of the appeal.
The case is still stayed, and the parties file occasional status reports in the interim.
Rachel Kreager - 03/30/2021
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