1 independent outlets are covering this story. Verification: Watching — single-source — not yet independently corroborated. Patriot Watch links to original reporting; we don't republish it.
ICE has been detaining foreign nationals at airports for having expired visas. The enforcement actions have drawn media scrutiny.
Patriot Watch first flagged this story 2 hr ago, when Twitchy reported it. So far this remains a single-source report. The most recent report came 2 hr ago from Twitchy. Verification tier: Watching — single-source — not yet independently corroborated.
⚖ The Constitutional Angle
Foreigners who entered and overstayed are persons under the Fifth Amendment and cannot be removed without due process, at least notice and a hearing, Yamataya v. Fisher held. A traveler stopped at a port of entry gets less, harborage there is not entry, Shaughnessy v. Mezei ruled. Detention is bounded, Zadvydas v. Kim Ho Ma limited it to a period reasonably necessary for removal, presumptively six months.
Kaoru Yamataya v. Thomas M. Fisher, Immigrant and Chinese Inspector (The Japanese Immigrant Case) 189 U.S. 86 (1903)
Vote: Majority for the Court (Harlan); Brewer and Peckham dissenting. Exact 7-2 tally not… · Opinion: Harlan
Although Congress may commit exclusion and deportation to executive officers without judicial trial, an alien who has landed and become part of the U.S.
Shaughnessy, District Director of Immigration and Naturalization, v. United States ex rel. Mezei 345 U.S. 206 (1953)
Vote: 5-4 · Opinion: Justice Tom C. Clark
An alien stopped at the border seeking initial entry may be excluded without a hearing on the basis of confidential information the Attorney General declines to disclose, and his continued exclusion — even where it means indefinite detention on Ellis Island because no other country will take him — does not violate due process. 'Harborage at Ellis Island is not an entry into the United States': Mezei remained legally 'an entering alien' despite his prior residence in Buffalo from 1923 to 1948, because he had departed for 19 months behind the Iron Curtain and was seeking readmission.
Zadvydas v. Kim Ho Ma) 533 U.S. 678 (2001)
Vote: 5-4 · Opinion: Justice Stephen G. Breyer
8 U.S.C. § 1231(a)(6), read in light of the Constitution's demands, limits an alien's post-removal-period detention to a period reasonably necessary to bring about that alien's removal from the United States; it 'does not permit indefinite detention.' The Court adopted six months as the presumptively reasonable detention period: after six months, once the alien provides good reason to believe there is no significant likelihood of removal in the reasonably foreseeable future, the government must rebut that showing or release the alien (under supervision).
Precedent facts from the PW Law Library — primary-source verified & independently audited
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