Re: “Immigrants in custody have no right to bond hearings, New Orleans federal appeals court rules,” Oct. 23.
The ruling is another dangerous step toward a totalitarian society where constitutional rights are gradually eroded. It means that once an immigrant is picked up by ICE or another federal agent, she or he does not have the right to argue in front of a judge that they do not represent a flight risk should they be bonded out.
This allows for their indefinite detention with no possibility of release. Depriving people of their rights without a hearing is a violation of a basic tenet of our democracy.
Gone is the pretense that these immigrants are criminals, “the worst of the worst”; their crime is simply not being born in this country, even if they have lived here for decades working alongside the rest of us.
They are your neighbors, your friends, your fellow churchgoers, your children’s classmates, the roofers across the street, your gardener, your housekeeper. They pay taxes and contribute to society. They have children who are U.S. citizens.
Depriving them of their right to argue against detention is only a step away from depriving all of us of that same right.
MAUREEN SHEA
New Orleans