Scofflaw Attorney General William Barr probably knew when he issued an order keeping many refugees seeking asylum in indefinite detention and denying them bail hearings that it was not constitutional, because he delayed implementing it for 90 days. A federal judge in Seattle has made that determination official by declaring the order unconstitutional and blocking it.
Judge Marsha J. Pechman of United States District Court for the Western District of Washington said the administration must follow the law and grant migrants seeking asylum a bond hearing within seven days of making that request, and be released if the hearing doesn't occur within those seven days. "The court finds that plaintiffs have established a constitutionally protected interest in their liberty, a right to due process, which includes a hearing before a neutral decision maker to assess the necessity of their detention and a likelihood of success on the merits of that issue," the judge wrote.
Locking asylum seekers up indefinitely, denying them legal entry, ripping them apart from their families, all of this has been part of the Trump administration's efforts to keep these refugees from entering the country to seek asylum—which is perfectly legal!—at all. The fact that the detention centers are already grossly overcrowded with refugees who've often been held for weeks and weeks was likely also a factor in Barr's decision to delay his own order. But the administration will almost certainly appeal this decision in another attempt to muddy issues at the border and keep more asylum-seekers from even attempting to come to the U.S.