Kramer Levin Files Amicus Brief to Protect Unaccompanied Immigrant Minors from Indefinite Detention

On March 17, 2017, Kramer Levin filed an amicus brief in the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on behalf of the Safe Passage Project Clinic at New York Law School and twenty-three law school professors who teach immigration clinics and courses throughout the United States. The brief argued that unaccompanied minors who are detained in immigration proceedings should receive the same due process protections that non-citizen adults and accompanied minors receive.

The amicus brief asked the Ninth Circuit to affirm the district court’s ruling that the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA) did not abrogate certain provisions of a settlement agreement, under which the Federal Government agreed to provide a hearing for every minor who is indefinitely detained to challenge their continued detention. The brief discussed the legislative history of the TVPRA and the Homeland Security Act of 2001, arguing that Congress’ silence on the issue of bond hearings for minors supported a finding that it did not intend to abrogate the settlement agreement or decrease these vulnerable minors’ rights. The brief also argued that the district court properly applied the canon of constitutional avoidance in its decision, which requires courts to construe ambiguous statutes in a manner that avoids raising serious constitutional concerns.

Intellectual Property partner Mark A. Baghdassarian worked on the brief with Intellectual Property associates Austin Manes, Jeffrey H. Price and Nobumasa Hiroi.