A divided federal appeals court ruled Friday that immigrants who entered the United States without being lawfully admitted have no constitutional right to a bond hearing while they are held in immigration detention, even if they have lived in the country for many years.
The full 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, sitting en banc in New Orleans, ruled 10-7 in favor of the Trump administration. The decision covers Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi, and it reverses lower-court orders that had freed three Texas men after judges found that holding them without a chance at bond violated their due process rights.
What the court decided
Writing for the majority, Judge Cory Wilson said that immigrants who have not been legally admitted to the U.S. are entitled only to the process Congress has written into immigration law. The court held that the men were not entitled to individual hearings on whether they were dangerous or a flight risk, and that the length of their detention raised no constitutional problem warranting release.
Wilson added that detainees who want to be free from detention “can do so at any moment by agreeing to leave the country,” according to the Texas Tribune.
In a concurring opinion, Judge Andrew Oldham wrote that such immigrants “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.”
A sharp dissent
Judge Leslie Southwick, an appointee of President George W. Bush, wrote in dissent that the ruling creates an “impenetrable wall between the Constitution and these long-term residents.”
The three men at the center of the case
The case began with the arrests of three men by Texas state troopers during routine traffic stops between November 2025 and February 2026. Ignacio Sosnava Rodriguez, a Mexican national, had lived in the U.S. for more than 22 years. Alejandro Villegas Angel, also from Mexico, had lived here since 2011. Miguel Angel Gomez Alvarado, from Honduras, had lived here since 2012. Villegas and Gomez each have children who are U.S. citizens.
The troopers turned the men over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which held them without a bond hearing. Federal district judges ordered them released, and the administration appealed.
Why it matters
Politico called the decision the most consequential ruling yet in support of the administration’s policy, announced in July 2025, of mandatory detention for people who entered the country without permission, regardless of how long they have lived here. Politico reported that the policy has been rejected by more than 460 district court judges and by nine of the 11 appeals courts that have considered it. The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to weigh the legality of the policy this term.
The Texas Tribune noted that although the ruling applies only within the 5th Circuit, the administration has transferred many immigrants from other states to detention centers in Texas.
Reaction
James Percival, a lawyer at the Department of Homeland Security, called it a “big win in the Fifth Circuit on mandatory detention for illegal aliens” in a social media post.
Rebecca Cassler of the American Immigration Council, who argued the case, said that because of the decision, the right to due process “is hollow for immigrants in Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi.” Gracie Willis of the National Immigration Project, which represents the three men, called the ruling “an affront to due process” and said her group has not yet decided whether to appeal to the Supreme Court.
This report is based on the 5th Circuit’s published opinion and reporting by the Texas Tribune and Politico.