Supreme Court Rules Against Immigrants in Detention Case

The Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that the government can arrest and detain noncitizens with past criminal convictions that could lead to deportation indefinitely, dealing a blow to immigrant rights advocates and upholding the Trump administration's detention powers.

In a 5-4 vote, the high court ruled in favor of mandatory detention at any time, even if noncitizens finished their criminal sentences years ago. That includes noncitizens who completed sentences for minor drug possessions.

The case, Nielsen v. Preap, involved a group of legal immigrants who faced mandatory detention years after they were released and filed class action lawsuits in Washington state and California.

On behalf of the high court's conservatives, Justice Samuel Alito wrote that Congress gave federal authorities in 1996 the power to arrest and detain noncitizens for previous crimes without rights to a bail hearing until authorities decide on deportation.

Alito expressed concern over the plaintiffs' argument that noncitizens facing mandatory detention must be arrested within 24 hours after they are released from prison, saying that timeline was "especially hard to swallow."

Justice Stephen Breyer, who wrote the dissenting opinion, said that he's worried the court's interpretation "will work serious harm to the principles for which American law has long stood."

"Why would Congress have granted the Secretary such broad authority to deny bail hearings, especially when doing so would run contrary to basic American and common-law traditions?" Breyer wrote.

"The answer is that Congress did not do so. Ordinary tools of statutory interpretation demonstrate that the authority Congress granted to the Secretary is far more limited."