IIRIRA Creates Mandatory Detention for Immigrants with Criminal Convictions

President Bill Clinton signed the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act on September 30, 1996, which included Section 236(c) mandating detention without bond hearings for noncitizens with certain criminal convictions pending removal. The law eliminated immigration judges' discretion to release these individuals on bond regardless of flight risk or community ties. The detention provision applied retroactively to convictions predating the law.