Supreme Court Hears Arguments in Ziglar v. Abbasi

Ziglar v. Abbasi involves three consolidated court cases filed by Muslim and Arab men who had no legal status to be in the United States when authorities arrested them following the September 11, 2001 attacks. These men claim that the government violated their rights by detaining them under unreasonably harsh conditions until cleared of any connection of terrorism, simply due to their race and ethnicity. The focus of the lawsuits was to hold senior government officials individually liable for their actions arising from their roles in implementing immigration policies following a national emergency. This type of relief is referred to as a “ Bivens” remedy, which is granted by courts only in certain situations – when there was a violation of an individual’s constitutional rights. The government argued that a Bivens remedy would be extraordinary if extended in the context of these cases. Rather, Congress should be the governing body to determine whether a damages remedy is available with respect to government officials in cases involving national security. On the other hand, the lawyer for the immigrant detainees maintained that it was unnecessary to extend Bivens in the context of these cases, since they do not involve any sensitive national security judgments. The lawyer argued that it is necessary to allow these lawsuits to proceed in order to deter excessive exercises of government power. Some of the justices, however, pointed out that other remedies may be available to the immigrant detainees, such as habeas corpus actions in federal court or an action seeking an injunction to challenge the constitutionality of the detention policy. Other justices expressed doubt as to whether these potential remedies would be effective or even realistically available to the immigrant detainees in this situation. Meanwhile, attorneys for the wardens of the immigrant detention centers where the immigrants were detained argued that the wardens should be immune from suit, although a few of the justices did not appear receptive to this argument. Contacting an experienced California immigration attorney as quickly as possible can be essential to combatting deportation proceedings that the government has brought against you. Taking steps to resolve a potential deportation problem from the outset is often much simpler than waiting until the last minute and trying to fix the situation. Call Landerholm Immigration, A.P.C., at (510) 756-4468, today, and learn what we can do to help you through this situation.