The RecordExhibit 114
No bond hearings for immigrants who entered illegally, however long ago
Mixed rulings means: Courts have ruled both ways on parts of it.
Under a July 2025 memo, the administration treats anyone who crossed the border illegally as subject to mandatory detention with no bond hearing, no matter how long ago they came or whether they have applied for asylum.
What happened
Earlier administrations typically let most noncitizens without criminal records ask for a bond hearing if they were arrested away from the border. The Center for Migration Studies estimates that something like 5.5 million of about 14.6 million undocumented residents could have entered illegally, which would make them subject to the policy. Requests for release flooded the federal courts: thousands were filed each week from January through late April 2026, compared with a few dozen a week before the policy, according to a ProPublica count cited by Stateline.
Where it stands
Courts have ruled both ways. By mid-May 2026 the 5th Circuit and the 8th Circuit had upheld the policy, while the 2nd Circuit (April 2026), the 11th Circuit (early May 2026) and the 6th Circuit (May 11, 2026) had ruled against it. By Oct. 1, 2026, AP reported, most appeals courts to consider the question had found that detaining these immigrants without a bond hearing violates federal law, and the ACLU says hundreds of district judges have ruled the same way. Stateline counted nine appeals courts that had ruled against the policy and two, the 5th and 8th Circuits, that had upheld it; the 4th Circuit was the ninth, according to the ACLU. On Oct. 1, 2026, the Supreme Court agreed to decide the question, in the case of Ricardo Aparecido Barbosa da Cunha, a Brazilian man arrested in September 2025 who authorities say entered illegally two decades ago and who, his lawyers say, has never been charged with a crime. SCOTUSblog reports the court will hear arguments early next year.
The administration's side
The administration says the policy is legal under a 1996 immigration law. A Homeland Security spokesperson said in July 2025 that the department was enforcing the law "as it was actually written." Its lawyers wrote that the split among appeals courts has produced an "unworkable patchwork" of enforcement, with detention mandatory in some parts of the country and bond hearings available in others.
Sources
Permanent link: https://unredactedrecord.com/e/nobond/