By Breitbart News Network | Created at 2026-07-31 14:47:26 | Updated at 2026-08-02 18:23:59
2 days ago
A federal appeals court ruled Thursday that the Trump administration cannot hold illegal aliens arrested inside the United States in mandatory detention without a chance to seek release on bond.
In a 2-1 decision handed down Thursday, the Wisconsin-based Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the government cannot deny bond hearings to illegal aliens already living inside the country.
The court said the administration had been applying the wrong part of federal law. That part covers people seeking admission at the border. It does not cover people already living inside the country, the panel ruled.
It was the second such ruling that day. Earlier Thursday, the San Francisco-based Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the same way, also 2-1. A judge appointed by President Donald Trump sided with the majority in that case.
The two rulings mark the administration’s fifth and sixth straight losses on the policy at the appeals level.
The fight goes back to July 2025. That is when Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) issued guidance saying illegal aliens picked up inside the country could not be released on bond. Thousands of aliens then filed court petitions asking for bond hearings.
The ruling comes as courts across the country split over the policy. The Fifth and Eighth Circuits sided with the administration. The Second, Sixth, Tenth, Eleventh, and now Seventh and Ninth Circuits went the other way. Last month, a separate Fifth Circuit panel ruled that ICE cannot hold immigrants longer than 90 days without a bond hearing. The full Fifth Circuit later blocked lower court judges from releasing migrants who said the Constitution required it. Judges have released more than 11,000 aliens held by ICE this year before they could be deported.
The split makes it likely the Supreme Court will take up the question.
The rulings drew quick reaction online.
