Resource: Garfield Gayle, et al. v. Janet Napolitano, et al.

In November of 2012, the ACLU of New Jersey and the national ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of individuals who are facing deportation and held in detention facilities without the possibility of bail or a bail hearing during the duration of their immigration removal case. The denial of bail means that the detainees are forced to remain in the detention facility indefinitely until they are seen by a judge. A federal appeals court had previously ruled that these detainees are entitled to request a hearing to prove that the government’s claims for deportation have no merit or that they cannot be removed from the country. The government, however, does not provide notice to the detainees that they have a right to request a hearing and the notice the government does provide is misleading on this point. Because of this, hundreds of detainees who can prove they should be let out on bail end up being held for months until their deportation hearings are scheduled. Even if a detainee is able to request a hearing, the hearings are not recorded and the bail determination is not transcribed which makes it difficult for a detainee to appeal a bad decision. The court granted Garfield Gayle’s request for habeus relief and directed an immigration judge to conduct a bond hearing.