Circuit Split Over Protections for Detained Immigrants Widens

A preliminary injunction requiring the government to prove that an alien is either a danger or a flight risk in order to justify detention pending a removal hearing has come undone, after the Fourth Circuit said the trial court lacked jurisdiction to issue the order.

The statute authorizing the Attorney General to detain immigrants pending a removal hearing strips district courts of authority to issue class-wide injunctive relief, the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit said Thursday.

The holding drives an existing circuit split on the application of 18 USC §1252(f)(1). Although the opinion is consistent with decisions ...