Supreme Court: Refugee can't fight deportation in court

June 25 (UPI) -- The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Thursday that an asylum-seeker designated for a quick deportation has no legal right to challenge his removal in federal court, handing a victory to the Trump administration.

In a 7-2 decision, justices rejected an argument from a Sri Lanka man who said he's entitled to a hearing after he was denied asylum. His attorneys cited a guarantee in the U.S. Constitution against unlawful detention.

After his application for asylum was denied, Vijayakumar Thuraissigiam was designated for a fast-tracked deportation under an expedited review system and he sought a court hearing to stop it.

The high court ruling reverses a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, which found the procedures violated migrants' constitutional rights.

"If courts must review credible-fear claims that in the eyes of immigration officials and an immigration judge do not meet the low bar for such claims, expedited removal would augment the burdens on that system," Justice Samuel Alito wrote for the majority.

Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan dissented.

"The court thus purges an entire class of legal challenges to executive detention from habeas review, circumscribing that foundational and 'stable bulwark of our liberties,'" Sotomayor wrote. "By self-imposing this limitation on habeas relief in the absence of a congressional suspension, the court abdicates its constitutional duty and rejects precedent extending to the foundations of our common law."

"This ruling fails to live up to the Constitution's bedrock principle that individuals deprived of their liberty have their day in court, and this includes asylum seekers," answered attorney Lee Gelernt of the American Civil Liberties Union, who represented Thuraissigiam.

"This decision means that some people facing flawed deportation orders can be forcibly removed with no judicial oversight, putting their lives in grave danger."

A member of Sri Lanka's minority Tamil ethnic group, Thuraissigiam says he will be subject to persecution if he's returned to his home country.

The Department of Homeland Security broadened the expedited reviews last year to include refugees apprehended anywhere in the United States who haven't been a continuous U.S. resident for at least two years.

The Trump administration has sought to accelerate the removals of thousands of refugees without granting them court hearings. Thousands of migrants are removed each year under the system, often within days of arrival. It was first established by Congress in 1996.

Migrants in Mexico: Journey to the U.S. border

Migrants ride an inflatable raft on the Suchiate River from Tecun Uman, Guatemala, while a smuggler waits for their arrival in Ciudad Hidalgo, Mexico on Thursday. Photo by Ariana Drehsler/UPI | License Photo

Migrants follow a smuggler after riding the inflatable raft across the river in Ciudad Hidalgo. Photo by Ariana Drehsler/UPI | License Photo

Cineac Kinchel, who is from Haiti, sits with his daughter Michele in Tapachula, Mexico on Thursday. They have been staying along with migrants from Africa and Haiti near the Instituto Nacional de Migración Delegación Federal en Chiapas building, hoping to apply for an exit visa. The visa would allow them to travel legally through Mexico so they can make their way to the U.S. border. Photo by Ariana Drehsler/UPI | License Photo

Migrants wait in line to apply for an exit visa or a regional visitor visa in front of the INM office in Tapachula, Mexico. Photo by Ariana Drehsler/UPI | License Photo

From left to right, Ania from Angola, Mulekwa from Congo, and Lidia Maria from Angola wait in front of the INM office for their number to be called. Once their number is called, they will be able to apply for an exit visa that is valid for 20 days. Photo by Ariana Drehsler/UPI | License Photo

Narciso Lopez Flores sits in his store near where the migrants from Africa and Haiti have temporarily settled in Tapachula, Mexico. Lopez has been living in Tapachula for 30 years and says that he feels bad for the migrants. He believes they should be allowed to travel to the U.S.-Mexico border. Photo by Ariana Drehsler/UPI | License Photo

Erica, 11, of Angola, poses for a photo in Tapachula, Mexico, where she has been staying. Photo by Ariana Drehsler/UPI | License Photo

Mulekwa of Congo poses for a photo in Tapachula, Mexico, where she lives now. Photo by Ariana Drehsler/UPI | License Photo

Nira and her son Eduard from Congo pose for a photo in Tapachula, Mexico, where they now live. Photo by Ariana Drehsler/UPI | License Photo

Priscilla and her son Kilembi from Angola. Photo by Ariana Drehsler/UPI | License Photo

Stephen waits in the motel room he shares with two other men in Tapachula, Mexico on Wednesday. Stephen traveled from his home country, Cameroon, to Mexico in hopes of getting an exit visa so he can travel to the U.S.-Mexico border and seek asylum. Photo by Ariana Drehsler/UPI. | License Photo

Brayan Rosales Hidalgo, 34, from Honduras, holds his and his 11-year-old son Antony's INM regional visitor visa cards near a sports complex, a makeshift detention center in Mapastepec, Mexico on Tuesday. "The gangs took my house and threatened my family, so we fled," Hidalgo told UPI. Rosales is trying to get to his brother in Tijuana, Mexico, though the regional visas are only good for four Southern Mexican states. Photo by Ariana Drehsler/UPI | License Photo

Migrants from Haiti, Africa, the Middle East and Asia wait in front of the INM in Tapachula, Mexico, for their number to be called on Monday. Photo by Ariana Drehsler/UPI | License Photo

Tension has been building because of the length of time it is taking to get the process started. Photo by Ariana Drehsler/UPI | License Photo

Javier Valdez holds a list of names in front of INM's regional sub-delegation office in Tapachula, Mexico. Photo by Ariana Drehsler/UPI | License Photo

Migrants, mainly Cubans, wait in front of INM's regional sub-delegation office to discuss having the proper paperwork. Unlike Central Americans, Cuban migrants are not eligible for regional visitor visas. Instead, they must apply for either humanitarian or exit visas if they want to continue north to the U.S.-Mexico border. Immigration officials have been slow to grant Cubans visas, stranding hundreds in southern Mexico and deporting those they find without documents. Photo by Ariana Drehsler/UPI | License Photo