Rockingham Times

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit has ruled in favor of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of New Hampshire in an immigration rights case, which requires the government to bear the burden of proof for whether an immigrant in custody should be released on bond. 

The ACLU in New Hampshire challenged a long-standing practice of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in 2019, New Hampshire Public Radio reported. This practice requires detained immigrants to prove to immigration judges that they are not a flight risk nor a danger to the community.

"Huge immigration win at the First Circuit in a case litigated by the ACLU of New Hampshire, Sheehan Phinney and others," Gilles Bissonnette, New Hampshire ACLU's legal director, wrote in a Aug. 20 Tweet. "Many immigrants will now be entitled to bond hearings where the burden is on the government to justify the detention. Incredible work by Sang Yeob Kim at the ACLU."

According to New Hampshire Public Radio, the case was centered on Ana Ruth Hernandez-Lara. Hernandez-Lara is an asylum seeker from El Salvador who was incarcerated in 2018 and was unable to prove she wasn't a flight risk or a danger to the community at large. The ACLU appealed her case, which resulted in her being released from custody. 

On Aug. 19, the federal court decided in a split decision that the government is required to prove an immigrant detainee would leave the country or cause danger to society if denying bond, Law 360 reported.

According to Law 360, the First Circuit Court of Appeals' opinion supported the ruling of a New Hampshire federal judge who was the first to change the burden of proof to rest in the hands of the government.