Judge Rules Detained Haitian Immigrant Must Get Bond Hearing

A federal judge in Manhattan has ordered the government to allow a bond hearing for a Haitian immigrant who's been detained for the past eight months, while fighting deportation.

Augustin Sajous is a legal permanent resident. His lawyers say he's lived in the U.S. for 46 years, most of them working and raising a family until he struggled with mental illness and homelessness.  He's been convicted of several minor offenses but it was his two convictions for bending a Metrocard, to get a free ride, that landed him in the most trouble.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) considered those to be "crimes involving moral turpitude" subject to deportation. In October, agents arrested him when he went to a court appearance. He's been held at an ICE detention facility in New Jersey ever since.

Sajous was supposed to have a hearing in March on whether he could be released on bail or bond while his case continues. But that hearing was canceled after the U.S. Supreme Court found detained immigrants aren't required to have bond hearings. Sajou's lawyers then argued his eight-month detention violated due process, and on Wednesday a federal judge agreed.

"His detention had become unconstitutionally long without having any chance to ask for release," said Andrea Saenz, a supervising attorney at Brooklyn Defender Services, which represented Sajous. 

Judge Alison Nathan ordered that Sajous must have a hearing within two weeks, so that his attorneys can argue that he presents no risk of flight if he's released on bail or bond while his deportation case continues. But that ruling only applies to him.

The New York Civil Liberties Union, which also represented Sajous, said that without a rule requiring a hearing within six months for all detained immigrants, too many will be detained with no other options than costly federal litigation. The NYCLU also released a quote from Sajous, in which he stated, "When you're free, it's a lot easier to fight your case." 

His attorneys are challenging the government's grounds for deportation.

When contacted about the ruling, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman said the agency won't comment on pending litigation.