Panel Rules Immigrants In S. Calif. Can't Be Held Indefinitely

Immigrants detained in Southern California for possible deportation must be given a hearing within six months to determine whether they should be released, a federal appeals court decided Tuesday.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court’s order requiring the federal government to provide hearings to immigrants who are incarcerated in Southern California, including those arrested while entering the country or those with a criminal history.

“Contrary to the government’s rhetoric, this injunction will not flood our streets with fearsome criminals seeking to escape the force of American immigration law,” Judge Kim McLane Wardlaw, an appointee of former President Clinton, wrote for the panel.

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