In a move that could keep tens of thousands of asylum seekers locked up, the Justice Department said Tuesday that it will deny a large class of undocumented immigrants a bond hearing to argue for their release.
The opinion, by Attorney General William Barr, adheres to the Trump administration’s stance that migrants caught at the border should be detained whenever possible, even when they’ve petitioned for asylum.
The 11-page precedent-setting decision reverses a 2005 immigration court ruling that guaranteed bond hearings for certain migrants. Under the earlier ruling, some migrants who passed a “credible fear” interview — the first step in their asylum review — were eligible to seek release on bond.