On Sept. 30, the U.S. District Court ruled that Tacoma immigration judges were unlawfully declaring they can’t issue bonds to many detained immigrants, often relegating them to months or years in jail-like conditions.

Yet Tacoma’s immigration judges have continued to say they can’t issue bonds, citing a purported lack of jurisdiction.

“It’s just a willful defiance of a federal court order,” said Aaron Korthuis of the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, which brought a class-action lawsuit resulting in the September judgment by District Court Judge Tiffany Cartwright.

U.S. Attorney for Western Washington Neil Floyd, who before his Oct. 6 swearing-in was a Tacoma immigration judge, countered in an interview last week that Cartwright’s ruling is “an advisory opinion” that is not binding.

See Full Page