Appeals court upholds Trump detention policy for illegal immigrants

A federal appeals court on Friday upheld the Trump administration’s mass detention policy, allowing illegal immigrants to be detained without bail.

The U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) can legally deny bail hearings to immigrants detained nationwide under the Constitution and federal immigration law.

Attorney General Pam Bondi reacted to the ruling, saying the Department of Justice (DOJ) “scored yet another significant legal victory” in support of President Donald Trump’s immigration agenda.

“The Fifth Circuit just ruled that illegal aliens can rightfully be detained without bail, a significant blow to activist judges who have undermined our efforts to make America safe again at every turn,” he wrote in X. “Thank you to Ben Hayes, Brett Shumate, and the @DOJCivil Division for defending this case. We will continue to defend President Trump’s law and order agenda in courtrooms across the country.”

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Circuit Judge Edith H. Jones wrote in the majority opinion: “Unadmitted aliens apprehended anywhere in the United States cannot be released on bail, regardless of how long they have resided in the United States.”

Many illegal immigrants who had not previously been detained at the border had the opportunity to request a bail hearing as their cases progressed, and those who had no criminal history and were not a flight risk were often granted bail.

“Just because previous Administrations decided to exercise less than their full enforcement authority “under the law” does not mean they did not have the authority to do more,” Jones wrote.

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The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that federal law allows illegal immigrants to be detained without bail, a decision praised by Attorney General Pam Bondi. (US Immigration and Customs Enforcement)

Circuit Judge Dana M. Douglas, who wrote a dissenting opinion, said members of Congress who passed the Immigration and Nationality Act nearly 30 years ago “would be surprised to learn that it also requires the detention without bond of two million people.”

Douglas noted that some of those detained were “wives, mothers, fathers, and grandparents of American citizens.”

The decision stems from two separate lawsuits filed last year against the Trump administration, both involving Mexican citizens who have lived in the U.S. for more than a decade and are not a flight risk, according to attorneys.

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that federal law allows the Department of Homeland Security to deny bail hearings for illegal immigrants arrested across the country, upholding the Trump administration’s enforcement policy. (X via @ICE)

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Although they had no criminal records, both were sentenced to months in prison last year until a lower court in Texas granted them bail last October.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.