Third Circuit Presses Hard on Noncitizen Mandatory Detention

A Third Circuit panel had tough questions Monday for attorneys on both sides of the high-stakes fight over mandatory detention for noncitizens who were arrested inside the US after entering illegally.

Judge Theodore McKee said he felt “somewhat like Alice through the looking glass,” noting that the government’s position would result in locking up people “who are not a risk of flight, not a danger to the community.”

“You’re asking us to order you to spend I don’t know how many millions of dollars a day to incarcerate a lot of folks who don’t need to be incarcerated,” said McKee, ...