The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit handed the Trump administration a loss Thursday on its policy of mandatory detention for illegal immigrants, adding to the deep divide among federal appeals courts on the legality of the policy.A three-judge panel on the 9th Circuit ruled 2-1 to reject the Trump administration’s assertion that the 1996 Immigration and Nationality Act permits them to keep illegal immigrants detained indefinitely while their removal proceedings play out in court. The Trump administration argues the INA has allowed this policy, but that previous presidential administrations declined to enact it. The 9th Circuit joined the 2nd, 6th, 7th, 10th, and 11th Circuits in rejecting the administration’s policy, countering the 5th and 8th Circuits, which have said the policy is lawful.
“We conclude that the text, context, and structure of the INA, considered as a whole, did not direct such a significant, yet overlooked, change in the law,” U.S. Circuit Judge Daniel Bress, an appointee of President Donald Trump, said in his ruling. “Although no reading of the complicated and interrelated textual provisions at issue here is without some shortcomings, the historical understanding of the statute is the better one.”
