Immigrants who entered the country illegally can be held in federal custody until they are deported, with no right to ask a judge for bond, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Friday.
The New Orleans-based court split 10-7, The Texas Tribune reported. The decision applies in Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi, the three states in the 5th Circuit.
Judge Cory Wilson, appointed by President Donald Trump, wrote for the majority that people who were never legally admitted are entitled only to the rights Congress has written into immigration law. Detainees who want out of custody, he wrote, "can do so at any moment by agreeing to leave the country." Judge Andrew Oldham agreed in a separate opinion.
In dissent, Judge Leslie Southwick, an appointee of President George W. Bush, wrote that the ruling builds an "impenetrable wall between the Constitution and these long-term residents."
Three Texas traffic stops
The case began with three men stopped by state troopers on Texas roads between November 2025 and February 2026. Each had lived in the U.S. for at least 14 years, had worked during that time and has children who are U.S. citizens, according to the Tribune. Troopers handed them to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which detained them without a hearing before a judge.
Federal district judges later ordered the men released, finding that holding them without a chance at bond violated due process. The administration appealed, relying on a policy it announced in July 2025 that anyone arrested by ICE, however long they have lived in the country, has no right to bond.
