A group of undocumented migrants is deported by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents across the McAllen–Hidalgo–Reynosa International Bridge in McAllen, Texas, March 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Felix Marquez, File)
The Trump administration’s policy of holding immigrants without a chance for release on bond is illegal and “harkens back to some of the darkest moments in our country’s history,” including the mass detention of Japanese Americans during World War II, a divided federal appeals court ruled Thursday.
The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals became the ninth federal appeals court to reject the administration’s mandatory detention policy — a key part of its mass deportation campaign. Two other appeals courts have upheld it, creating a split that greatly increases the odds that the U.S. Supreme Court will take up the issue.
The split also means immigrants in some parts of the country are getting bond hearings while those in other places, including Texas and Louisiana, face additional hurdles to seek release.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said in a statement it was “confident in its legal position regarding mandatory detention,” noting it had recently asked the Supreme Court to take up the issue.
