Select Language:
A federal appeals court on Tuesday rejected the Trump administration’s policy of detaining most individuals arrested during its immigration enforcement efforts without allowing them the chance to request bond release.
A panel of three judges from the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, based in New York, determined that the administration had misinterpreted an immigration law that dates back decades. Instead of following established legal standards, the court found that the administration’s approach was a flawed and novel interpretation aimed at supporting widespread detention.
This decision follows rulings from two other appellate courts, which previously sided with detainees by overturning decisions that denied them bond hearings before immigration judges. The conflicting decisions suggest the case may ultimately be escalated to the Supreme Court for a final ruling.
Judge Joseph Bianco, writing for the panel, acknowledged the differing viewpoints but emphasized that the court was diverging from previous rulings. The panel aligned with over 370 lower-court judges nationwide who had rejected the administration’s legal stance, ruling that it was an incorrect application of the law.
The case centered around the detention of Ricardo Aparecido Barbosa da Cunha, a Brazilian national who had lived in the U.S. for more than 20 years. Last year, immigration officials detained him while he was driving to work, prompting the court to overturn his detention order and secure his release.
Bianco, a judge appointed by former President Trump, warned that a ruling against the detainee would authorize what could become the broadest mass detention order in U.S. history—affecting millions of non-citizens.
The Department of Homeland Security had recently taken the position that individuals already living in the U.S. are considered “applicants for admission” and thus subject to mandatory detention, not just new arrivals at the border. Under existing law, such applicants must be detained during their case proceedings and are not eligible for bond hearings.
This interpretation was codified in September when the Board of Immigration Appeals, part of the Justice Department, endorsed this view. Consequently, immigration judges nationwide have ordered the detention of many individuals based on this new perspective.
Advocates, including Michael Tan of the American Civil Liberties Union, argued that the administration cannot arbitrarily re-write the law. The Department of Justice has declined to comment on the ruling.
ChatGPT
Perplexity
Gemini AI
Grok AI
