This article first appeared on The Texas Tribune. The Texas Tribune is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them — about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues. 

Trump administration can hold immigrants in ICE custody without bond, court rules

by Uriel J. García, The Texas Tribune
October 23, 2026

Immigrants who entered the country illegally don’t have a right to seek bond while they're in custody and going through deportation proceedings, even if they’ve set roots in the U.S., a federal appeals court ruled Friday.

In a 10-7 ruling, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans ruled that current immigration laws allow the federal government to hold detained immigrants until they're deported — regardless of whether they have made a life in the U.S. and lack a criminal history.

Trump-appointed Judge Cory Wilson wrote in the court’s ruling that if undocumented immigrants have not been legally admitted to the U.S., they are only entitled to whatever rights Congress has spelled out in immigration laws. He added that if undocumented immigrants in custody want to be free from detention, “they can do so at any moment by agreeing to leave the country.”

In a concurring opinion, Judge Andrew Oldham agreed.

“Because such aliens remain legally unadmitted, they receive exactly the same due process rights that they would have if they had come through a legal port of entry — which are whatever rights Congress chooses to give them,” Oldham wrote.

Judge Leslie Southwick, a George W. Bush appointee, wrote in his dissent that the ruling has created an “impenetrable wall between the Constitution and these long-term residents.”

Rebecca Cassler, senior litigation attorney at the American Immigration Council, who argued the case before the 5th Circuit, said the court’s ruling is an attack on constitutional due process rights, which have been guaranteed to anyone living in the U.S., regardless of immigration status.

“The right to due process is a fundamental constitutional protection, and it is meant to protect every person in this country. Because of today’s decision, that right is hollow for immigrants in Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi,” she said. “But the logic of the 5th Circuit’s decision threatens everyone in this country: When courts degrade the meaning of liberty for some, we all suffer the consequences.”

Mass deportation efforts

The case stems from the arrest of three men in Texas by state troopers between November 2025 and February 2026 during routine traffic stops. All three have lived in the country for at least 14 years, worked during that time and have children who are American citizens. The troopers turned the men over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents who held them in detention without allowing them to see a judge.

Ignacio Sosnava Rodriguez, Miguel Angel Gomez Alvarado and Alejandro Villegas Angel were eventually released from ICE custody after federal judges found that holding them without a chance for a bond hearing violated the men’s due process rights. The Trump administration appealed, arguing that federal immigration law says undocumented immigrants should be held until deportation without bond hearings — a policy it put in place in July 2025.

Friday’s ruling is welcome news for the Trump administration, which has prioritized immigration enforcement as part of its mass deportation efforts.

“Big win in the Fifth Circuit on mandatory detention for illegal aliens, a principle codified in 1996 legislation but ignored by the deep state for decades,” James Percival, a lawyer in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, said on social media, referring to Clinton administration immigration law that expanded the list of immigrants who can be more easily deported.

“Rejecting due process”

Gracie Willis, an attorney with the National Immigration Project, which is representing the three Texas men, said the general public should be concerned that a federal court believes the government can hold people indefinitely without justification.

“We look at this case as an affront to due process, as the 5th Circuit rejecting due process,” Willis said. “It's really a shocking extension of this attempt to criminalize immigrants and to hold immigrants in detention without any opportunity for them to be released, thereby creating an environment of fear.”

Willis said her organization is still assessing what legal action to take and has not decided if it plans to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

She said immigration lawyers are anticipating how district courts are going to react to this ruling. Many district judges have ruled that immigrants being held in detention centers have a right to bond as long as they are not a flight risk or a danger to the community.

Even though Friday’s ruling is limited to the 5th Circuit, which includes Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi, the Trump administration has transferred many immigrants from other states to detention centers in Texas.

A policy change by the Trump administration

Under federal immigration laws, the government can quickly deport undocumented immigrants who recently crossed the U.S.-Mexico border without giving them a chance for a bond hearing. But for those who have lived in the U.S. for months or years before being detained, the law gave them the right to challenge their detention.

In July 2025, the Trump administration announced a policy change, saying that anyone who has been arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents — regardless of how long they’ve been in the country — doesn’t have a right to bond.

Earlier this month, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear a separate but similar case that directly challenges the Trump administration’s mandatory detention policy.

According to ProPublica, immigrants filed more habeas corpus petitions — a legal procedure that allows a person detained by the government to challenge their imprisonment — in the first 13 months of the second Trump administration than in the past three administrations combined.

Since January 2025, immigrants have filed more than 89,000 petitions against the Trump administration, seeking their release.

Friday's ruling doesn't prohibit other detainees from filing habeas corpus petitions if they entered the country legally.

Politico found that more than 400 federal judges — appointed by presidents of both major political parties — have ruled in favor of immigrants’ right to due process in more than 5,000 cases since the Trump administration’s policy change last year.

In comparison, 41 judges have sided with the administration’s interpretation of the law in 250 cases, according to a Politico analysis of federal government data.

The Trump administration appealed some of the cases to higher courts, leading to conflicting rulings.

This article first appeared on The Texas Tribune.