Judge Blackwell

Judge Blackwell, good afternoon.

You may be seated.

The hearing this afternoon concerns compliance with court orders, not policy, just compliance, nothing else.

I've had so many issues with noncompliance in just this past week that I called for this hearing.

As I hope everybody here agrees and acknowledges, that a court order is not advisory and it is not conditional.

It is not something that any agency can treat as optional.

The authority exercised by the court is derived from Article 3 of the Constitution.

That authority under Article 3 only has meaning if the court orders are obeyed, adhered to promptly, fully, and in good faith.

Detention without lawful authority is not just a technical defect.

It is a constitutional injury that unfairly falls on the heads of those who have done nothing wrong to justify it.

The overwhelming majority of the hundreds seen by this court have been found to be lawfully present as of now in the country.

They live in their communities.

Some are separated from their families.

When a release order is not followed, the result is not just a delay.

In some instances, it is the continued detention of a person the Constitution does not permit the government to hold and who should have been left alone, that is, not arrested in the first place.

In many instances, I have had to not just issue an order, but another order, another order, another order, about seven or eight different touches sent to the government simply asking for the date, time, and location of the release of someone who was ordered released.

in many instances, a week or more in the past.

And why is that so difficult?

I cannot understand, because there's obviously a person associated with the government who is going to the detainee to release him or her.

You have their name.