Tom Homan's Big Gamble Pays Off - Democrats Are Furious

The full U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled Friday that certain immigrants detained during removal proceedings have no constitutional right to individualized bond hearings. The 10-7 decision is a victory for President Donald Trump’s administration as it defends mandatory detention.

The ruling applies in Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi. It reverses a July decision by a three-judge panel that had said detainees covered by the policy could not be held for more than 90 days without a hearing on whether they posed a danger or flight risk.

The case involved three people the court classified as applicants for admission under federal immigration law. They had lived in the United States for years before being detained. District courts had ordered their release, finding that detention without bond hearings violated due process.

Writing for the majority, Trump-appointed Judge Cory Wilson concluded that the Fifth Amendment did not require the hearings the petitioners sought. He reasoned that Congress sets the procedures governing immigration detention for people who have not been legally admitted.

“To the extent petitioners seek to vindicate a liberty interest,” Wilson wrote, they could end their detention by agreeing to leave the United States.

The administration argues that federal law requires detention for the affected group while their removal cases proceed and does not authorize immigration judges to release them through ordinary bond proceedings. The Fifth Circuit’s ruling rejects the constitutional challenge, but a separate question remains: whether immigration statutes require bond hearings.

The Supreme Court agreed this month to consider that statutory issue in a different case. Its review could determine whether the administration’s interpretation of federal law stands beyond the Fifth Circuit.

Seven judges dissented. Judge Leslie Southwick warned that the majority had erected an “impenetrable wall” between the Constitution and long-term residents facing detention. Judge Dana Douglas also argued that prolonged detention without meaningful review raised serious constitutional concerns.

The majority’s ruling gives the administration a stronger legal footing in three states as it carries out its deportation agenda. The broader fight now turns on the Supreme Court’s forthcoming review of the separate statutory question.