United States Ninth Circuit

The district court properly granted a preliminary injunction to a certified class of non-citizens who challenged their prolonged detentions, requiring the government to identify those detained as certain criminal or terrorist aliens under 8 USC section 1226(c) or arriving aliens under section 1225(b), and to provide each with an individualized bond hearing, where: 1) petitioners were likely to succeed on the merits of their claim that section 1225(b) must be construed to authorize only six months of mandatory detention, after which detention is authorized by section 1226(a) and a bond hearing is required; 2) the preliminary injunction is necessary to ensure that individuals whom the government could not prove constitute a flight risk or danger to public safety are not needlessly detained, and therefore, petitioners clearly showed a risk of irreparable harm; 3) the balance of equities favors petitioners; and 4) the public interest benefits from a preliminary injunction that ensures that federal statutes are construed and implemented in a manner that avoids serious constitutional questions.

Appellate Information

• Decided 04/17/2013
• Published 04/17/2013

Judges

• WARDLAW

Court

• United States Ninth Circuit

Counsel