The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals delivered a significant ruling on Thursday, determining that the federal government cannot detain undocumented immigrants for more than 90 days without providing a bond hearing. This decision effectively overturns a policy from the Trump administration that mandated the detention of immigrants pending deportation without the opportunity for a hearing.
In a 2-1 decision, the panel of three judges from New Orleans stated that the federal government is required to justify at court hearings why certain undocumented immigrants should not be released on bond. Judge Leslie H. Southwick, appointed by George W. Bush, emphasized that a hearing must occur within 90 days of detention, during which the government must provide specific reasons for continued detention without bond.
Southwick highlighted that the government must demonstrate that the detained individual poses a danger to the community or is a flight risk, or offer another valid reason for their continued detention. The panel acknowledged that federal immigration law allows for the detention of undocumented immigrants who have recently crossed the U.S.-Mexico border, but ruled that those who have established lives in the U.S. prior to their arrest are entitled to due process protections.
Judge James E. Graves Jr., appointed by Obama, concurred with the majority but expressed concern that a 90-day period is still excessively long. He remarked on the troubling conditions faced by noncitizens, pointing to a significant lack of humanity in their treatment.
In contrast, Judge Cory Wilson, a Trump appointee, dissented, arguing that current immigration law does not permit undocumented immigrants to contest their detention.
This case arose from the arrests of three men in Texas by state troopers during routine traffic stops between November 2025 and February 2026. Each of these individuals had resided in the U.S. for at least 14 years, worked during that time, and had American citizen children. After their arrests, they were turned over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), who detained them without allowing any opportunity for a judicial review.
Ignacio Sosnava Rodriguez, Miguel Angel Gomez Alvarado, and Alejandro Villegas Angel were ultimately released from ICE custody after federal judges determined that their detention without a bond hearing violated their due process rights. The Trump administration challenged this decision, citing federal immigration law that mandates the detention of undocumented immigrants until deportation without the allowance for bond hearings—a policy enacted in July 2025.
The implementation of this policy has resulted in a surge of lawsuits, with immigrants filing nearly 47,000 habeas corpus petitions during the first 13 months of the Trump administration, surpassing the total from the preceding three administrations. Approximately 20% of these cases were filed in Texas federal courts.
According to Politico, over 400 federal judges, appointed by leaders from both major political parties, have ruled in favor of immigrants’ due process rights in more than 5,000 cases since the policy change last year. In stark contrast, only 41 judges have supported the Trump administration’s position in about 250 cases, based on an analysis of federal government data.
After the Trump administration appealed several cases to higher courts, diverging rulings emerged. Prior to Thursday’s decision, three federal appeals courts had ruled against the administration, while two upheld its policy, and one court remained deadlocked.
Immigration attorneys anticipate that the matter will escalate to the U.S. Supreme Court for final resolution.
