After living in Detroit for more than a quarter century, Juan Manuel Lopez-Campos was pulled over by local police during a routine traffic stop in Romulus this summer. Suspecting Mr. Lopez-Campos had immigration issues, local police called immigration authorities, who arrived on the scene and arrested him.
Historically, immigrants like Mr. Lopez-Campos – who are picked up within the United States and are only accused of having entered the country without authorization long ago – would have been allowed to appear before an immigration judge and explain why they should be released on bond so they can fight their immigration case from home, instead of staying locked up during months—or even years—of immigration court proceedings. That historical practice reflects the fact that immigration violations are civil in nature, and that civil detention can only be used for very limited purposes (such as to prevent someone from continuously evading court proceedings).
But these are not typical times.
In July, the Trump administration issued a new nationwide directive that -- in contradiction to existing laws, longstanding federal policy, and the Constitution -- attempts to unlawfully deny bond hearings to people who are legally entitled to them. They applied that directive to Mr. Lopez-Campos in order to keep him locked up for over two months without the chance to go home to his family.
To address that injustice, the ACLU of Michigan and co-counsel Shahad Atiya urgently filed a habeas corpus petition in federal court on behalf of Mr. Lopez-Campos in August. A habeas corpus petition is a lawsuit used when someone believes their detention or incarceration is unlawful. We argued that, by denying Mr. Lopez-Campos a bond hearing, the Trump administration is acting contrary to federal immigration laws and violating Mr. Lopez-Campos' due process rights. U.S. District Court Judge Brandy R. McMillion agreed and ordered immigration officials to either immediately release Mr. Lopez-Campos from custody or promptly schedule a bond hearing.
In her decision, Judge McMillion wrote that the government’s new directive denying bond hearings “is not only wrong but also fundamentally unfair.”
Five days after the judge’s order, Mr. Lopez-Campos was released from detention, able to remain free while his immigration case continues. Instead of being locked up, he has returned home to resume caring for his close-knit family after more than two months of forced separation.
“I’m happy to finally be with my family,” he told us just after being set free. He also expressed gratitude to the legal team that helped win his freedom.
We are heartened that Mr. Lopez-Campos is finally out of detention. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) cannot simply lock someone like Mr. Lopez-Campos up and then throw away the key by denying them a bond hearing. People navigating their immigration case should be able to do so while remaining with their family and in their community. Fairness, freedom, and due process are at the core of our immigration system, but our current system isn’t set up to uphold these values. Instead, hundreds and thousands of people are deprived of their liberty, separated from their loved ones, and put at risk in ICE custody.
The ruling is an important victory. It sends a clear message to the Trump administration that it must follow the immigration laws and the Constitution when it comes to providing people the opportunity to fight their immigration cases from home.
But we are not at all certain the current administration has learned its lesson. This is, after all, what the ACLU has described as a “lawless executive branch.” Given that, and the fact that hundreds, perhaps thousands, of immigrants in Michigan are still being detained without access to due process, our fight may be far from over. Every person, including immigrants like Mr. Lopez-Campos, has the right to move and live freely, in community and with their family, without fear of being separated from their loved ones or displaced from their home.
Unless ICE and other administration officials suddenly reverse course and begin adhering to established immigration law and the Constitution, we and others will be prepared to step into the breech and fight for the rights of all immigrants being wrongly detained, just as we did for Mr. Lopez-Campos.
