LOS ANGELES—A Riverside-based federal judge’s order requiring the release of illegal immigrants from detention centers where COVID-19 risks were high was overturned Oct. 20 by a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The appellate panel ruled 2-1 that U.S. District Judge Jesus Bernal overstepped when he granted a preliminary injunction in April 2020 to modify the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainment practices nationwide to reduce COVID-19 exposure risks. Judge Daniel Bress, writing for the majority, said that Bernal’s order was misplaced, and there was no justification for making the agency appear to be engaged in “reckless disregard on a national basis.” Bernal’s directive had been in response to petitions from illegal immigrants’ rights attorneys seeking to have their clients released from crowded federal detention facilities while their asylum applications were pending. Immigrants’ rights groups argued that the detainees were being subjected to mistreatment by having …