A federal appeals court is set to reconsider a closely watched immigration case after temporarily setting aside a ruling that would have required U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to provide bond hearings to certain migrants held for more than 90 days.
Earlier this month, a divided three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Trump administration could not indefinitely detain certain migrants without giving them an opportunity to appear before an immigration judge and request release on bond. The judges found that the Fifth Amendment’s guarantee of due process applies to everyone inside the United States, including non-citizens facing deportation.
The case involved two Mexican citizens and one Honduran national who had lived in the United States for more than a decade before being arrested by ICE following routine traffic stops in Texas. None of the three men had criminal records, and each is the father of U.S. citizen children. Their attorneys argued that holding them for months without a bond hearing violated their constitutional rights.
Writing for the majority, Judge Leslie H. Southwick said the Constitution places limits on the government’s detention authority and requires an individualized review after prolonged detention. Under the panel’s now-vacated ruling, ICE would have been required to provide a bond hearing within 90 days, where the government would need to show that continued detention was justified because the individual posed a flight risk, a danger to the community, or for another legally recognized reason.
However, on July 10, the full 5th Circuit voted to rehear the case en banc, meaning all active judges on the court will reconsider the issue. The court also vacated the panel’s decision, which means the July 2 ruling is no longer in effect and cannot be relied on as binding precedent while the case is under review. Oral arguments are expected in September.
The case could have significant implications for immigration enforcement in Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi, where the 5th Circuit has jurisdiction. It is also being closely watched because it could eventually reach the U.S. Supreme Court, which may ultimately decide whether prolonged immigration detention without a bond hearing is constitutional.
The Trump administration has defended its mandatory detention policy, arguing that federal immigration law allows the government to detain certain non-citizens while their immigration cases move through the courts. Immigrant rights advocates, however, argue that constitutional due process protections require the government to justify prolonged detention before an immigration judge.
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