Appeals judges split over ruling that lets Trump-era immigration detentions continue

The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 10-7 to sustain the Trump administration’s practice of detaining undocumented immigrants without bond hearings, reversing lower-court orders that had freed three men from Mexico and Honduras who have lived in the United States for over a decade. The majority opinion, authored by Judge Cory Wilson, held that the Fifth Amendment’s due-process guarantee does not extend to individual bond hearings in immigration proceedings.

In a sharply worded dissent, Judge Dana Douglas and four colleagues described the majority’s reliance on “sham history” and warned that the decision erects a constitutional barrier for long-term residents. The dissent also noted that the policy represents a recent shift by the Department of Homeland Security, contradicting decades of practice. Two of the detained men have U.S. citizen children, and the case raises questions about the limits of executive power in immigration enforcement. The Supreme Court has agreed to review the issue, signaling its national significance.