The article “Supreme Court Weighs Jailed Immigrant’s Rights to Bail Hearings” by Adam Liptak covers the dissenting school of thoughts of various Judicial Officers on the Right to Bail Hearing for Immigrants despite there being precedents to be relied upon. (Adam Liptak 2022). The author pinpoints the ongoing case of an immigrant one Mr.Arteaga –Martinez that contested his detainment after being held in custody without appearing before an immigration judge.
The author notes that the lower court heard the immigrant’s application and granted it. However, the federal government contested the same and it was presented before the Supreme Court for determination. The Judges had a difficult time in determining this case because some had dissenting opinions on the immigration precedent of 2001 in the case of Zadvydas Vs Davis. The author pinpoints that the judgment, in this case, was that the government was not to detain immigrants indefinitely if there is no country willing to grant them asylum.
The author highlights the quagmire that the judges are faced with when they are asking whether the precedent is supposed to be implemented in retrospect. This is to mean that all immigrants who have been detained for long before the decision was made may be released based on this decision. The author also highlights a recent decision that is similar to the one before the court and that is Garland vs. Gonzalez that is a class action suit. In this case, a large number of immigrants were granted and released on bail.
The images that are used in the news story include that of a prison, where there is an individual in orange overalls which we can conclude to be an accused person. The individual is making a telephone call which we can assume is to someone who can bail them out of prison. Sociologically thinking, this depicts the phenomenon that society views immigrants as criminals who are coming to the U.S.A illegally to conduct illegal acts such as gang-related crimes, drug trafficking, and robbery. This is even though most of the immigrants escape from their countries due to hardship, persecution, and harsh conditions. Researches have also concluded that the myth that immigration is related to high crimes is false. In comparison to the 1980’ s when there was a great surge of immigrants in the U.S, a projection to 2016 shows that the areas where the immigrants settle are attributed to fewer violent crimes (Anna Flagg 2018). The news image also has the individual in an orange jumpsuit which has a direct correlation to the attire that is worn by prisoners in the U.S.This makes the presumption that despite being detained as an immigrant waits for their bail hearing, they are already viewed as criminals who deserve to be behind bars despite the right to bail is a constitutional right. Also taking note that the article.
From a political perspective, the news images depict the already existing bias of immigrants in the U.S by political parties and leaders. This includes the federal lawyers who in the public limelight challenged the granting of bail of immigrants by immigration judges despite the Immigration laws set in place. This can also be evidenced in the policies that are implemented or brought forth by the administrative bodies. These include; restricted entry, declining of traveling visas, and heightened border enforcement among many. Therefore the imagery presented automatically places the immigrants as felons who should stay behind bars until deportation despite the duration they are to stay and their chances of going before an immigration judge for bail proceedings are close to none.
In conclusion, it is noteworthy that the U.S is still a long way on the road to the recognition and enforcement of Immigration Laws. As these decentring opinions by the Judicial Officers and Federal Government continue, the greater the backlog will be and the number of detained immigrants will continue rising. The only scapegoat that the detained immigrants will have is if the Judicial System fully adopts the Zadvydas Vs Davis 2001 decision.
References
Flagg, Anna. 2018. “The Myth of the Criminal Immigrant (Published 2018).” Nytimes.com. Retrieved January 12, 2022. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/03/30/upshot/crime-immigration-myth.html
Liptak, Adam. 2022. “Supreme Court Weighs Jailed Immigrants’ Rights To Bail Hearings.” Nytimes.com. Retrieved January 12, 2022 https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/11/us/politics/supreme-court-immigrants-bail-hearings.html
