Latest news with #habeasCorpus
CBS News
4 days ago
- General
- CBS News
Lawyers seek release of Jeanette Vizguerra, Colorado immigration activist, on bond
Lawyers for detained immigrant rights activist Jeanette Vizguerra are asking that she be released on bond or by an injunction pending a final judgement of her petition for habeas corpus, which challenges the legality of her detention. In a new filing in the federal district court of Colorado, her lawyers are requesting "her immediate release pending adjudication of her petition." While her case drags out in federal court, they say the harm to her, her family and community outweighs any harm her release would pose to the government. Jeanette Vizguerra ICE Vizguerra was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement more than 10 weeks ago. She is being held at the GEO facility in Aurora. Her lawyers say her activism and promotion of immigrant rights is viewed as a "threat to government overreach" and her arrest is a violation of the First Amendment right to free speech. Vizguerra has been in the United States for more than thirty years and has three children who were born here. "I'm just very desperate, very desperate for her to be out, you know, in whatever way possible, it's very scary for her to be in custody," said Vizguerra's daughter Luna Baez Vizguerra. "I never know what they might be capable of doing to her, more so because she does have a little bit more attention towards herself." In the new filing, Vizguerra provides a declaration where she described the effects of her detention, "I am worried about the impact on my kids, grandkids, and ex-partner, all of whom rely on me...I particularly fear for my ex-partner and my youngest daughter, who struggle the most when I am separated from them…Detention makes it nearly impossible for me to be the activist and organizer that I am, and not being able to be there for the community with so many difficult things coming from this administration, so much terror and confusion is devastating." In a recent filing, government lawyer's wrote, "The Supreme Court has determined that noncitizens cannot challenge the enforcement of a removal order based on a selective enforcement theory. Thus, Petitioner does not have a viable First Amendment retaliation challenge here." Upon her arrest on March 17, ICE issued a statement saying, "Vizguerra is a convicted criminal alien from Mexico who has a final order of deportation issued by a federal immigration judge. She illegally entered the United States near El Paso, Texas, on Dec. 24, 1997, and has received legal due process in U.S. immigration court." The government has 21 days to respond to the motion for bond.
South China Morning Post
7 days ago
- Business
- South China Morning Post
American financial exploitation vs Chinese financial repression
When asked during a US Senate hearing about the meaning of habeas corpus, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem gave a jaw-dropping reply. 'Well, habeas corpus is a constitutional right that the president has to be able to remove people from this country,' she said. Whatever you think of her answer, it makes perfect sense for an administration that either doesn't know or doesn't care about this foundational legal concept on which Western liberal democracy and the rule of law are supposedly built. It is perhaps only a slight exaggeration to say that America has become its opposite – neither liberal nor democratic, neither free nor egalitarian. In a lengthy interview with Jiefang Daily from Shanghai, economist Michael Hudson explained how this had come to pass in his country. 'The United States is a neoliberal economy dominated by finance capital. Its political aim is to dismantle government regulation and privatise basic infrastructure, and to make financial centres – Wall Street – the economy's central planner,' he said.
Yahoo
25-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump administration floats suspending habeas corpus: What's that?
Stephen Miller, a senior adviser to the president who was answering a question about illegal immigration, told reporters May 9 that the Trump administration is 'actively looking at' suspending the constitutional right that allows people to challenge in court their detention. Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff, said the Constitution says 'the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus can be suspended in a time of invasion.' Habeas corpus — Latin for 'you have the body' — is used to determine if the government's detention of someone imprisoned is legal, according to Cornell Law School's Legal Information Institute. A writ of habeas corpus is used in federal courts under civil law to challenge a person's detention, commonly used by people imprisoned who are challenging the conviction that led to their prison sentence. Here's what to know about the comments: Miller's comments come amid several high-profile cases involving the Trump administration where habeas corpus has become a central issue. The cases have included people without lawful status in the country, as well as international students targeted for their pro-Palestinian advocacy. On May 9, a federal judge in Vermont ordered the release of Tufts University student Rumeysa Ozturk, a Turkish national detained for an op-ed in her student newspaper, from a Louisiana immigration detention facility under her writ for habeas corpus. A week earlier, another federal judge in Vermont granted the habeas petition of Columbia University student Mohsen Mahdawi, a legal permanent resident and pro-Palestinian activist, to release him from custody. After his comments about possibly suspending habeas corpus, Miller said the administration's next steps depended on the courts 'to do the right thing or not,' he said. Miller said the Immigration and Nationality Act, passed by Congress, removed the judicial branch with jurisdiction over immigration cases, calling it "jurisdiction-stripping legislation." "The courts aren't just at war with the executive branch," he said. "The courts are at war — these radical, rogue judges — with the legislative branch, too." Stephen Vladeck, a law professor at Georgetown University and author of the Supreme Court newsletter "One First," sharply criticized Miller for what he called a series of 'incendiary,' 'blatantly false' and 'profoundly dangerous' comments. In a newsletter posting Friday, Vladeck said Miller was wrong when he implied that Congress has passed 'jurisdiction-stripping legislation' that wrested control of key immigration matters – including the suspension of habeas corpus – from courts and judges. 'I spent a good chunk of the first half of my career writing about habeas and its history, but the short version is that the Founders were hell-bent on limiting, to the most egregious emergencies, the circumstances in which courts could be cut out of the loop,' Vladeck wrote. 'To casually suggest that habeas might be suspended because courts have ruled against the executive branch in a handful of immigration cases is to turn the Suspension Clause entirely on its head.' And if anyone is able to suspend habeas corpus besides the courts, Vladeck wrote, 'the near-universal consensus is that only Congress can suspend habeas corpus—and that unilateral suspensions by the President are per se unconstitutional.' Habeas corpus has historically been used for people imprisoned without judicial process, and the concept is found in the Magna Carta, in 1215. Before the United States' founding, English common law had established habeas corpus to object to imprisonment. American framers enshrined habeas protections — and how they could be suspended — in the Constitution, under Article I establishing the legislative branch. The Suspension Clause says, 'The Privileges of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it.' Federal statutes — dating back to the first Judiciary Act of 1789 in the first Congress — provide courts the authority to grant habeas relief to people imprisoned. Successive federal laws and court decisions have also affirmed this right. Most observers agree that it can't be suspended unilaterally by the executive branch. The Suspension Clause is found in Article I, establishing the powers of Congress. Amy Coney Barrett, now a Supreme Court justice appointed by Trump, and Neal Katyal, a former acting Solicitor General in the Obama administration, said in a National Constitutional Center interpretation that the Suspension Clause provides that habeas corpus can't be suspended except in 'extraordinary circumstances.' That is, when a rebellion or invasion occurs, and that it's required by public safety, they said. Cornell Law says only Congress can suspend the writ of habeas corpus, either by its own legislation or through expressed delegation to the executive branch. 'The Executive does not have the independent authority to suspend the writ,' Cornell Law said. Barrett and Katyal's interpretation said it had been suspended four times before. President Abraham Lincoln controversially suspended writ privilege nationally early in the Civil War, but Congress subsequently enacted a law permitting suspension in March 1863. In three other instances, Congress has authorized suspension for the executive branch to act. This included when the Ku Klux Klan overran 11 counties in South Carolina during the Reconstruction era in acts of domestic terrorism. Later, habeas was suspended in two provinces in the Philippines during a 1905 insurrection. Most recently, the United States suspended habeas writ in Hawaii after the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor that marked the country's entrance into World War II. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump adviser Stephen Miller floats suspending habeas corpus
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Columbus judge says detained immigrant must get due process before he's removed
A U.S. District Judge in Columbus has issued a preliminary injunction for a Venezuelan man detained at Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Georgia, saying he has not received due process, according to court documents. The petitioner in Y.A.P.A. vs. Donald J. Trump, et. al., is concerned he will be designated as an 'alien enemy' under the Alien Enemies Act (AEA), placed on an expedited removal track and transferred to the Center for Terrorism Confinement (CECOT) in El Salvador without being able to contest the designation, according to the document. The document says the petitioner's removal is currently being processed under Section 240 of the Immigration and Naturalization Act. A proclamation by the Trump administration in March allows for Venezuelan citizens age 14 and older who are members of Tren de Aragua, in the U.S. and not naturalized or lawful permanent residents of the U.S. to be 'apprehended, restrained, secured and removed as alien enemies,' according to the White House's website. The petitioner's motion seeks to prevent his transfer outside the jurisdiction of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia until his petition for habeas corpus — a judicial motion forcing law enforcement to justify a prisoner's continued confinement — is decided, according to the document. A decision Wednesday from U.S. District Judge Clay D. Land, states the respondents can't remove the petitioner as an alien enemy until '(1) Respondents submit to the Court a proposed revised alien enemy removal process as applied to Petitioner that is consistent with Supreme Court opinion in A.A.R.P.; and (2) this Court has entered an order specifically setting forth the due process requirements necessary to protect Petitioner's constitutional rights in light of the most recent Supreme Court opinions.' The Supreme Court, in A.A.R.P., et al. v. Donald J. Trump, et al., granted a temporary injunction for two Venezuelan immigrant detainees who asserted they were at imminent risk of being classified as alien enemies and removed from the United States with no record indicating they received any formal notice of removal. The Venezuelan man's petition for Habeas Corpus, retrieved through the ACLU's website, states he has submitted an affirmative application for asylum and protection under the Convention Against Torture and plans to resubmit the application in immigration court. The petition states Y.A.P.A. was arrested on Feb. 22, 'after Homeland Security Investigations targeted him for allegedly being a 'known associate' of Tren De Aragua.' He is scheduled for a hearing on May 28 in Stewart Immigration Court. In his decision, Land states: 'Respondents undoubtedly would prefer that they be allowed to implement any necessary changes to their AEA procedures without judicial oversight. Allowing constitutional rights to be dependent upon the grace of the Executive branch would be a dereliction of duty by this third and independent branch of Government and would be against the public interest. Respondents have demonstrated their intention to test the constitutional limits of Executive power, which is certainly their right; but the Court has the responsibility to assure that unrestrained zeal does not include gaming the system in a manner that deprives an individual of constitutional protections. ...The public interest, while not always vocalized the loudest, requires that we remember that that these constitutional protections do not exist only for those attending lunch at the local Rotary Club, enjoying war stories at the VFW hall or having a beer at the Moose Club lodge. These rights are not rationed based upon political views, and they do not belong solely to those who may be subjectively determined to be great Americans. They extend to those whom many may consider to be the most repugnant among us. This foundational principle is part of what has made, and will continue to make, America great..'
Malay Mail
21-05-2025
- Politics
- Malay Mail
US immigration chief's habeas misstep fuels alarm over Trump deportation agenda
WASHINGTON, May 21 — US Secretary of Homeland Security Kristie Noem yesterday misstated the meaning of 'habeas corpus' — the right of a person to challenge their detention in court — during a Senate hearing, claiming instead it was the opposite. Noem, who oversees Immigration and Customs Enforcement and plays a key role in implementing President Donald Trump's hardline migration agenda, was questioned by a Senate committee regarding comments made by White House adviser Stephen Miller involving habeas corpus. Miller on May 9 said the White House was 'looking into' suspending habeas corpus, which would prevent migrants targeted for mass deportations to appeal for their right to appear in court. Maggie Hassan, a Democratic senator from the northeastern state of New Hampshire, asked Noem: 'What is habeas corpus?' 'Well, habeas corpus is a constitutional right that the president has to be able to remove people from this country, to suspend their right to...' Noem responded, before she was interrupted by Hassan. 'Habeas corpus is the legal principle that requires that the government provide a public reason for detaining and imprisoning people,' Hassan said, correcting Noem. 'If not for that protection, the government could simply arrest people, including American citizens, and hold them indefinitely for no reason. 'Habeas corpus is the foundational right that separates free societies like America from police states like North Korea,' Hassan continued. Noem rephrased her response, saying 'I support habeas corpus,' but said the president has the right to decide whether it should be suspended. Nevertheless, Noem said the Trump administration would comply with any court ruling on habeas corpus. Trump has made deporting undocumented immigrants a key priority for his second term, after successfully campaigning against an alleged 'invasion' by criminals. But his mass deportations have been thwarted or slowed by multiple court challenges, including by the Supreme Court, often on the grounds that individuals targeted for deportations should be given due process. — AFP
