The Trump administration Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency has detained over 400 immigrants illegally, according to statistics gathered by Reuters news agency. Hundreds of U.S. District Judges have found ICE’s actions in detaining immigrants without opportunity for bail to violate federal statute.

U.S. District Judge Thomas E. Johnston wrote in one such case that the agency has done so in complete “disregard [of] the current law as it is clearly written.” Judge Johnston was appointed to the Southern District of West Virginia by Pres. George W. Bush. ICE has detained 68,000 immigrants, which has resulted in 20,000 federal lawsuits seeking their release. More than 400 Federal judges ruled in over 4,421 cases that ICE is holding those immigrants illegally. There has been an explosion in U.S. District Courts of writs of habeas corpus. Those writs have been filed directly because those immigrants were not given a chance to post bond while their cases proceed. Non-detention related case work has slowed to a crawl in U.S. District courts as Judges deal with this sudden growth.

See ABA Bar Journal news report here.