DETROIT _ In a move that affects hundreds of Iraqi detainees nationwide, a federal judge in Detroit issued an order Tuesday evening saying the immigrants deserve bond hearings and should not be locked up indefinitely while the legal process continues.
"Our legal tradition rejects warehousing human beings while their legal rights are being determined, without an opportunity to persuade a judge that the norm of monitored freedom should be followed," U.S. District Judge Mark Goldsmith wrote in his 46-page order, stressing the right to a bond hearing is a fundamental principle in the nation's justice system.
"This principle is familiar to all in the context of the criminal law, where even a heinous criminal _ whether a citizen or not _ enjoys the right to seek pretrial release," Goldsmith wrote.
Goldsmith further explained that the court will establish a process of individual bond hearings for all the detainees.
Goldsmith's ruling brought some relief to Ashourina Slewo, 22, of Madison Heights, whose father was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in June and transported to a correctional facility in Youngstown, Ohio. While she hopes that her father, 51-year-old Warda Slewo, will soon taste freedom _ she's worried about being able to afford his bond.
"I know this is a win, but it's kind of like backhanded win," Slewo said. "I'm scared that the bond is going to be atrociously high. I'm scared that I won't be able afford it."
Goldsmith's ruling affects about 300 Iraqi immigrants who were arrested during a federal roundup last year and locked up in jails or detention centers in about two dozen states. The detainees include 114 Iraqi immigrants with criminal records who were arrested in Michigan in June, though there are more than 1,400 Iraqis in total across the country who face deportation.
Khaalid Walls, spokesperson for ICE, said late Tuesday that the agency could not immediately comment on the ruling.
Government officials have argued that the detainees _ whose arrests came amid aggressive immigration policies by the Trump administration _ have committed crimes in the U.S. and must be deported now that Iraq will accept them.
But advocates have argued that the detainees _ many of whom are Christians who fear being tortured or killed if deported _ paid their debt to society and deserve to be with their families as their cases make their way through the system. Specifically, they argue, they deserve a bond hearing.
Goldsmith agreed, noting the detainees "have now languished in detention facilities" and that "detention may stretch into years." He concluded that they deserve a bond hearing, where both sides can argue about whether or not they are flight risks or a danger to society.
"What they seek is consistent with the demands of our Constitution _ that no person should be restrained in his or her liberty beyond what is reasonably necessary to achieve a legitimate, governmental objective," Goldsmith wrote.
Martin Manna, president of the Chaldean Community Foundation in Sterling Heights, hailed Goldsmith's ruling as "a step in the right direction."
"These Iraqi nationals have always been reporting (to Homeland Security), and have demonstrated that they are not a national security risk," Manna said. " I'm hopeful that (with) these bond hearings, they will be given an opportunity to be released. Most of them are breadwinners. They have been paying taxes and abiding by the laws of this country."
Manna added: "It's important to know that 90 percent of those that have asked for their cases to be reconsidered have been granted. They have had success in courts. This will give them an opportunity to provide for their families while staying here in America and avoiding persecution in Iraq."
Earlier this year, the Department of Homeland Security said Iraq had agreed to start allowing the return of immigrants who have been ordered out of the United States. They were allowed to stay in the country under previous administrations.
