Washington, D.C.—On October 3, The United States Supreme Court heard arguments in Jennings v. Rodriguez. The justices have been asked to decide whether people held in immigration detention facilities deserve an opportunity to be released, like other people awaiting criminal trials in this country.
If the ultimate determination overrules a longer court decision in this case, thousands of non-citizens would lose the right to a hearing that would give them an opportunity to be released while their immigration case makes its way through the judicial system.
On any given day in America, there can be as many as 45,000 people held in immigration detention, among them torture survivors, asylum seekers, and green card holders. California’s largest immigration detention facility is in Adelanto.