Supreme Court: Legal immigrants may be held without bail.(Chicago Tribune)

Byline: Jan Crawford Greenburg

WASHINGTON _ Handing the government greater power to detain legal immigrants, the Supreme Court narrowly ruled Tuesday that legal immigrants convicted of crimes may be held without bail throughout the course of their deportation proceedings, even where they are not a danger to society or flight risk.

By a 5-4 vote, the court ruled that a 1996 immigration federal law that provides for mandatory detention of legal immigrants facing deportation did not violate their constitutional rights. It rejected a challenge by 25-year-old Hyung Joon Kim, who immigrated to the United States from South Korea as a child and is a lawful permanent resident.

The Immigration and Naturalization Service incarcerated Kim and began deportation proceedings against him after he was convicted of burglary and …