3rd Circuit rejects ICE policy treating long-term U.S. residents as still seeking admission

Ruling marks eighth federal appeals court rejection of the same detention policy

The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued its ruling on Friday, making it the eighth federal appeals court to reject the policy, according to UPI. Judges have ruled against ICE in more than 90% of the more than 13,000 cases challenging the policy, Politico reported.

The 3rd Circuit’s decision adds another appellate-level loss for the administration on the same legal question that has now drawn rejection from multiple circuits. The policy treats noncitizens with extensive ties to the United States as if they were still “seeking admission,” allowing ICE to place them in mandatory detention without bond.

The court’s statutory reasoning

The appeals court grounded its ruling in the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996, known as IIRIRA. The panel held that the law retained two distinct tracks for detention even though it overhauled removal procedures.

“Contrary to the Government’s view, the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (‘IIRIRA’) retained two tracks for detention even though it overhauled the procedures for removing noncitizens from the United States,” the court wrote.

The court explained the historical framework: “Before IIRIRA, noncitizens arriving in the United States were subject to ‘exclusion’ and those already in the country were subject to ‘deportation’ — the former were held in mandatory detention while the latter were afforded bond.”

Under that framework, the panel wrote, ICE’s policy was incongruent with the law, which is to be applied differently depending on how recently a specific person entered the country.

The constitutional holding

In addition to the statutory ruling, the 3rd Circuit held that the policy violates the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment. The court cited Supreme Court precedent recognizing that the Due Process Clause applies to all persons within the United States, “including aliens, whether their presence here is lawful, unlawful, temporary, or permanent.”

The panel drew a line between noncitizens at the border and those with longstanding ties to the country. “Because Petitioners here have lived in the United States for decades, they have ‘established connections’ in the country and are entitled to due process rights beyond those provided to noncitizens at the border,” the court wrote.

Scope of the dispute

The policy at issue allows ICE to subject people who have lived in the country for years to mandatory detention without bond by classifying them as still “seeking admission.” The 3rd Circuit’s ruling rejects that classification for people with the kind of longstanding ties the petitioners demonstrated.

The administration’s effort to defend the policy has met repeated rejection in the appellate courts. The 3rd Circuit’s decision adds to that body of adverse rulings.