U.S. Asylum Seekers Have Right to Bond Hearings for Now, Court Says

(Bloomberg) -- Immigrants who sought asylum in the U.S. have a right to a bond hearing for now, an appeals court in San Francisco ruled in refusing to pause a federal judge’s order that banned the government from detaining the people indefinitely.

The Trump administration asked the panel to put the judge’s order on hold until the appeal is heard. The appeals court scheduled a hearing on the issue in October.

“The government failed to show a likelihood of success on the merits of its underlying argument that the government may indefinitely detain the plaintiffs without affording bond hearings at all,” the appeals panel said.

The panel agreed to put on hold part of the federal judge’s order which required asylum seekers to be released from detention if they didn’t get a bond hearing within seven days.

The panel ruled that “would impose short-term hardship for the government and its immigration system” and be “particularly burdensome.”

The appeals court allowed “a radical decision from a district judge to go into effect,” Deputy Press Secretary Steven Groves said in a statement. “We strongly disagree with that decision and expect to prevail on the merits of the appeal and to see the law upheld.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Joe Schneider in New York at jschneider5@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: David Glovin at dglovin@bloomberg.net, Joe Schneider

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