Cyrus D. Mehta is an immigration attorney and the founder and managing partner of Cyrus D. Mehta & Partners in New York. He teaches immigration law at Brooklyn Law School and writes The Insightful Immigration Blog. His practice includes business immigration, asylum and professional ethics.
Role at the time: Immigration attorney and legal commentator
Condemned
Statement summary
Mehta criticizes treating admission doctrine as sufficient justification for confinement. He argues that a bond hearing tests the need for detention without granting immigration status or preventing removal, and says habeas review must remain meaningful.
“A bond hearing does not confer lawful status, prevent removal, or second-guess Congress's admissibility rules.”
Open source (opens in a new tab)Mehta criticizes the Fifth Circuit detention decisionSigned October 25 specialist analysis; detention, admission and habeas discussion
Why we used this label
The author opposes denying the individual detention hearing at issue.
The Fifth Circuit rejects three detainees' constitutional claims to individualized bond hearings. The en banc decision divides the judges over what due process requires during removal proceedings; dissenters argue that detention needs more justification.
