(CNN) — A federal appeals court on Friday blocked a Trump administration policy denying bond hearings to asylum seekers.
In a 2-1 decision, the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals, which has repeatedly drawn the ire of President Donald Trump, upheld a lower court ruling blocking the policy.
Last April, Attorney General William Barr announced a policy that some asylum seekers who have established credible fear and are subject to deportation cannot be released on bond by immigration judges.
The policy effectively blocked concerted efforts by immigration lawyers and immigrant rights advocates to push for bond hearings for detained asylum seekers. Advocates argued that there’s no reason for the United States to detain people who are seeking safety and have already cleared hurdles to prove they have credible cases.
The American Civil Liberties Union, which challenged the policy alongside the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project and American Immigration Council, heralded Friday’s ruling.
“The courts again found that this policy unconstitutionally strips people of their right to a hearing,” said Michael Tan, deputy director of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project, in a statement. “The Trump administration cannot bypass the Constitution by arbitrarily locking people up.”
The-CNN-Wire
