A significant and new change made by ICE’s policy is their argument that regardless of how long someone has been in the U.S. or whether they were arrested shortly after they arrived in the country, they are not eligible to ask an Immigration judge for release from detention on bond.

A federal district court has given back the right of many immigrants to ask for release from immigration detention on bond. Until the government appeals this decision, immigrants across the country have the right to ask an immigration judge for a bond hearing. Note that the court’s decision does not require an immigration judge to grant bond, only that the judge must hold a bond hearing.

Even if an immigrant has spent years inside the country, they are, legally speaking, still trying to enter the U.S. because they were never given permission to enter in the first place.

The new ICE guidance is not published. However, based on arguments made in immigration court by ICE prosecutors, it seems they are relying on prior Supreme Court and Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) cases.

If this situation applies to you or a loved one, the NILC link above has far more extensive and specific advice.

(Taken from an email sent to me by Never Again Action. Emphasis original.)