Cam v. Nielsen et al

On September 24, 2018, in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, Judge Richard A. Jones issued a preliminary injunction in Cam v. Nielsen. The named plaintiff, Cam, and a class of asylum seekers sued Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and other federal officials. They challenged the government's practice of detaining individuals who enter the United States and express a fear of persecution, without providing timely, individualized bond hearings. The plaintiffs argued that indefinite civil detention without the opportunity to seek release violated their Fifth Amendment due process rights. Judge Jones agreed, finding that the government’s blanket policy likely caused irreparable harm. The court ordered officials to provide bond hearings within seven days for detained asylum seekers who had passed credible fear screenings, effectively halting the practice of prolonged, unreviewed detention.

The court granted the plaintiffs' motion for a preliminary injunction, ordering federal immigration authorities to provide individualized bond hearings to detained asylum seekers within seven days of completing a credible fear interview.

Whether the U.S. government may indefinitely detain asylum seekers without granting them a bond hearing before a neutral decision-maker, and whether such detention violates the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment.

The ruling set a significant judicial check on executive immigration detention powers. It affirmed that asylum seekers enjoy fundamental procedural protections and cannot be held indefinitely as a means of deterrence. The decision guided detention practices at the border, reinforced the right to timely access to judicial review, and provided a legal foundation for subsequent challenges to mass detention of migrants.