Immigration Judge Says Detainee Bond Hearings Not Required (1)

The country’s top immigration judge has told her colleagues they aren’t bound by a district court judge’s finding that noncitizens should be given bond hearings, according to a practice alert posted by the American Immigration Lawyers Association.

The alert includes a screenshot of a Jan. 13 email from Chief Immigration Judge Teresa Riley telling immigration judges they still must follow the Board of Immigration Appeals precedent set in Yajure Hurtado, which found that huge swaths of noncitizens must be detained without a chance to argue for release.

The top-down directive is “highly irregular,” said Vanessa Dojaquez-Torres, Practice and ...