A divided federal appeals court handed the Trump administration a major victory Friday, ruling that immigration authorities can detain undocumented immigrants indefinitely without bond hearings during deportation proceedings, even if they’ve lived in the United States for decades.
The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals 2-1 decision marks the first time an appellate court has upheld the administration’s mandatory detention policy, reversing two district court rulings and contradicting hundreds of similar cases nationwide where federal judges found the policy unlawful.
What the Court Ruled
The decision immediately affects thousands of immigrants in Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi—states that house the nation’s largest concentration of immigration detention facilities. Immigrants who were previously eligible for release on bond while their deportation cases proceeded through the courts now face mandatory detention until their cases conclude, which can take months or years.
According to CNN, the ruling allows authorities to deny bond hearings to immigrants who had been living in the country unlawfully, including those previously allowed to remain free while their immigration cases moved through the system.
The two plaintiffs at the center of Friday’s ruling, Victor Buenrostro-Mendez and Jose Padron Covarrubias (both Mexican nationals) entered the United States illegally in 2009 and 2001, respectively. When Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained them in 2025, both men requested bond hearings before immigration judges. ICE denied those requests, citing a September 2025 Board of Immigration Appeals decision that adopted a new interpretation of decades-old immigration law.
Both men had initially won their cases before district court judges, who ordered them released or granted bond hearings. Friday’s appellate ruling reversed those decisions.
Overwhelming Lower Court Opposition
The ruling contradicts a wave of district court decisions. According to Politico, at least 360 federal judges rejected the Trump administration’s expanded detention policy across more than 3,000 cases, while only 27 judges backed it in approximately 130 cases.
The policy shift triggered what one government lawyer recently described as a “tsunami” of habeas corpus petitions flooding federal courts nationwide. In Minneapolis, Chief Judge Patrick Schiltz recently accused ICE of violating nearly 100 court orders directing the release of detainees.
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi called Friday’s decision “a significant blow against activist judges who have been undermining our efforts to make America safe again at every turn,” according to Reuters.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem wrote that “activist judges have ordered the release of alien after alien based on the false claim that DHS was breaking the law. Today, the first court of appeals to address the question ruled that @DHSGov was right all along.”
What Happens Next
The Fifth Circuit's ruling applies only within its jurisdiction—Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi. Other federal appeals courts are considering similar challenges, including the Seventh Circuit, which issued a preliminary ruling last year rejecting the administration's interpretation.
Legal experts say the issue will reach the Supreme Court given the nationwide importance and the circuit split that may emerge.
"The Fifth Circuit isn't just the most right-leaning appeals court in the country; the government drew on this panel two of that right-leaning court's most right-leaning judges," CNN legal analyst Steve Vladeck said. "It's hard to imagine they're going to get the last word."
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