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By Julia Ainsley and Doha Madani
WASHINGTON, DC – Attorney General William Barr on Tuesday referred to an immigration case, setting a new precedent that could affect thousands of migrants on the southwestern border who are seeking asylum in the United States.
In its decision, Barr stated that asylum seekers who start with an accelerated expulsion, in which they do not have the right to see a judge, are then transferred to a full referral procedure, in which they expect to to be able to plead their case before a judge. not to be released on bail. This means that thousands of asylum seekers who would once have been on bail and living in the United States pending the decision on their status would now remain in detention centers, where waiting has gone from several months to a year.
"This decision gives [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] the legal authority to detain all of these people indefinitely, "said Sarah Pierce, Policy Analyst at the Migration Policy Institute, a think tank on immigration." And this, if they have the capacity. I therefore think that the real effect of this decision will be severely limited by "the capacity of ICE".
Due to limited capacity, Barr said his decision should come into effect in 90 days to give ICE time to create sleeping space.
Under US law, the Attorney General has the right to overturn the decisions of immigration judges and establish new radical precedents, such as this one.
The decision is expected to affect a wide range of immigrants coming to the south-west border to seek asylum. Immigrants entering the United States without papers or with documents suspected of being fraudulent are placed in a fast return system before having an interview with US asylum officials who will try to establish that they fear for their safety they return to their country of origin. . And more than 90% of asylum seekers have spent credible interview on fear, according to Department of Homeland Security statistics.
Barr's decision overturned the decision of an immigration judge to release an immigrant on bail pending his trial. He also stated that the Immigration Appeals Board, a committee charged with reviewing immigration court decisions, had "wrongly decided" that only immigrants who entered the United States through Legal entries were to be held, while others could be released on bail.
As a result of this decision, thousands of asylum seekers will remain in CIE detention pending a decision. Families with children under 18 will not be affected by a Federal Court decision that prevents minors from being detained for more than 20 days.
The Obama administration was criticized in 2014 for placing bonds so high that immigrants could not afford them.
Barr's decision could be problematic for ICE, where the space to retain detained immigrants is already extremely limited. Many private penitentiary societies and national and local prisons are awarded ICE contracts allowing them to retain surplus immigrants.
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