Detainees exercise at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center in Adelanto, Calif. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson, File)
SAN FRANCISCO (CN) — A Ninth Circuit panel signaled Monday that, although judges don’t have to wait for a crisis before acting to prevent one, a federal judge may have overstepped his authority by “micromanaging” the release of immigrant detainees to head off a Covid-19 outbreak.
“Where do you draw the line with the district court micromanaging what’s happening at the facility,” U.S. Circuit Judge Bridget Bade, a Donald Trump appointee, asked during oral arguments Monday.
Bade is one of three Ninth Circuit judges overseeing an appeal of a federal judge’s decision to start a bail review process for hundreds of immigrant detainees at two California detention centers found to be lacking adequate Covid-19 safeguards.