The Issue

In the United States, the Due Process Clause of the U.S. Constitution prevents the government from arbitrarily jailing us, because our physical liberty is one of our most cherished rights.  This case challenges ICE policies and practices that make a mockery of this fundamental constitutional principal. Many individuals in our community are going through immigration court proceedings – which determine whether they may remain in the United States – after the Department of Homeland Security previously determined that they were not dangerous nor a flight risk and therefore released them from immigration custody for those proceedings.  

However, in San Diego, ICE now engages in a policy of arbitrarily re-detaining these individuals, even though they have done nothing to change the prior determination since their release. In fact, ICE specifically targets noncitizens who are doing exactly what the government has asked them to do: showing up for immigration court and for immigration appointments. ICE then seeks to imprison them in harsh immigration jails, separated from their families and communities, for the remainder of their immigration cases. ICE accomplishes this affront to due process by luring people in immigration court proceedings who are compliant with the terms of their prior release to an ICE check-in, and then re-detaining them without warning or any consideration of whether they are dangerous or a flight risk. This policy violates due process and exceeds ICE’s statutory authority.

We seek to protect such individuals’ freedom by requiring the government to prove at a hearing that changed circumstances altered the prior release determinations and now justify re-detention. Due process requires that this hearing must take place before re-detention, to prevent unlawful deprivations of liberty

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