High Court Upholds Jailing of Immigrants

WASHINGTON — WASHINGTON--Legal immigrants who have committed serious crimes can be held without a hearing and deported, even if they are not dangerous and are unlikely to flee, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Tuesday.

The 5-4 decision in a California case upholds a strict 1996 immigration law that seeks to rid the nation of "criminal aliens." The law requires mandatory detention and deportation of all immigrants, even those who are longtime lawful residents, if they have committed a crime that is punishable by at least a year in prison.

In Tuesday's ruling, the high court rejected the claim that these immigrants have a constitutional right to a hearing before they are jailed.

"This court has firmly and repeatedly endorsed the proposition that Congress may make rules as to aliens that would be unacceptable if applied to citizens," said Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist.

Legal experts said the decision is likely to speed the pace of thousands of deportations. Rehnquist cited government statistics showing that immigrants with criminal records are deported on average within 47 days of their arrest.

Immigration rights advocates and the American Bar Assn. criticized the decision, saying it allowed imprisonment without a hearing. But supporters said the decision affirms the law's goal of deporting criminal immigrants.

The ruling also gives U.S. Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft a stronger legal basis to hold detainees in the war on terrorism. After the Sept. 11 attacks, Ashcroft and the FBI arrested and detained at least 1,200 immigrants, but charged only a handful with crimes.

Normally, the Constitution does not allow the government to detain a person without full due process of law -- including the filing of charges and a hearing to contest them. But Rehnquist's opinion stresses that immigrants can be accorded lesser rights than U.S. citizens.

Unlike the terrorism disputes, the case decided Tuesday focused on immigrants who have been found guilty of crimes.

Hyung Joon Kim, a 25-year old South Korean native, came to California when he was 6 and became a legal resident. In 1996, Kim was convicted in Oakland of burglary for breaking into a tool shed. A year later, he was convicted of a petty theft and, because of his record, sentenced to three years in prison.