The Trump administration turned to the Supreme Court to defend its policy of mandatory detention of illegal immigrants who remain in the United States without having been formally admitted, even when they have been in the country for years. The government argues that federal law requires keeping them in custody while their deportation processes advance, without automatically guaranteeing them a hearing to request bail.
The petition, filed by U.S. Attorney General D. John Sauer in the case ''Raycraft v. Lopez-Campos'', was registered with the Supreme Court on June 24. The document did not initially appear on the court's website due to rules applicable to certain sensitive filings, but the public information office provided a copy to the media on June 26.
The Trump administration argues that the section 1225 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) requires the government to detain certain immigrants who entered illegally and who were never formally admitted to the United States. According to the executive's interpretation, this obligation continues while the deportation proceedings are underway.
The argument is based on a provision that states that certain individuals seeking to be admitted to the United States ''shall be detained'' when an immigration official determines that they do not have a clear and unequivocal right to enter.
The administration believes that this rule also applies to immigrants who entered illegally and were subsequently found within U.S. territory without having received formal admission. For the government, allowing these individuals to be released while awaiting their deportation processes would weaken the authorities' ability to enforce immigration laws.
The immigrants involved in the litigation hold a different interpretation. They argue that, once they are already inside the country, section 1225 ceases to apply because they are no longer ''seeking admission''. According to this view, section 1226 of the INA should be used, which allows for bail proceedings and hearings before immigration judges.
However, the White House has presented the measure as part of its strategy to end the policies known as ''catch and release'', under which some immigrants were released while awaiting their immigration hearings. For the administration, tightening detention aims to ensure that deportation orders can be effectively executed and to reduce incentives to remain illegally in the country.
The case before the Supreme Court involves 11 immigrants who entered the United States illegally and were subsequently detained. Immigration authorities initiated deportation proceedings against them and determined that they should remain detained under section 1225 during the process.
