By Michael Karlik | The Denver Gazette
Multiple federal judges in Colorado have freed people from immigration custody after determining that one immigration judge violated their directives for properly conducting bond hearings.
For nearly a year, Colorado’s U.S. District Court has faced a flood of habeas corpus petitions from those in immigration detention. The most common allegation is that the government is improperly denying bond hearings to people who are eligible by law. Colorado’s judges have largely agreed with that argument, and the Denver-based federal appeals court recently handed down a binding interpretation of the law confirming that view.
However, that has not ended the legal battle. Federal judges, in granting habeas petitions, have typically placed the burden on the government to show that a person who is unlawfully detained ought to remain in custody while their immigration proceedings unfold. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security must show, and an immigration judge must find, the petitioner is a flight risk or a danger to the community to justify their continued confinement.
On at least four occasions in July, Colorado’s federal judges found that Bobbie C. Masters failed to follow their instructions.
“To be sure, Immigration Judge Masters conducted a bond hearing by the deadline ordered by this Court,” wrote Judge Regina M. Rodriguez on July 22. But “the Court agrees with Petitioner that Respondents did not satisfy their burden of proving by clear and convincing evidence that he is a danger to the community and that his bond hearing did not comply with the Court’s orders.”
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