(Washington) The Supreme Court of the United States questioned Tuesday about the continued detention of certain immigrants for several months, a subject which places the administration of Democrat Joe Biden in difficulty with the defenders of the migrants.
Updated at 16:57 yesterday
The high court examined two separate cases, concerning Mexicans who entered the United States illegally and detained after being arrested.
Citing risks to their security, including threats of torture from the police or armed gangs, the migrants asked not to be returned to their country. After several months without a response, they demanded the right to see a judge for release on bail.
In 2019, the justice had found them right and estimated that after six months of detention, they were entitled to such a hearing.
The government of Donald Trump, which had made the fight against illegal immigration a marker of its presidency, had asked the Supreme Court to review this decision, applicable to thousands of other migrants.
In 2021, the administration of Democrat Joe Biden, who had promised to make the migration system more humane, continued this fight, to the chagrin of associations defending migrants. It is “on the wrong side of the battle”, criticized the powerful ACLU.
During the hearing on Tuesday, the representative of the Ministry of Justice stressed that most migrants were released or deported in less than six months.
“The average length of detention is less than six months, but there are a large number of people for whom this is not true,” retorted the progressive judge Sonia Sotomayor. “These procedures can sometimes take years and years.”
“Given the history of our country, can we detain a person, who is not even a criminal, for months and months without granting him at least one hearing before a judge? », Added his colleague Stephen Breyer.
The decision of the nine wise men, including six conservatives, is expected by the end of June.
In the United States, the law normally sets 90 days as the deadline for enforcing a deportation order, but in some cases allows it to go beyond. In 2021, the average length of detention for migrants was 45.7 days, according to official statistics.