Full Fifth Circuit Rules 10-7 That Immigrants Held by ICE Have No Right to Bond Hearings

The full U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled 10-7 on Friday that immigrants held by Immigration and Customs Enforcement while their deportation cases are pending have no constitutional right to a bond hearing, regardless of how long they are detained. The en banc court, sitting in New Orleans, reversed a lower panel and sided with the Trump administration. Judge Cory Wilson, a Trump appointee, wrote for the majority that the three men in the case, from Mexico and Honduras, with U.S.-citizen children and arrested after traffic stops, were still legally seeking admission and could end their detention at any moment by agreeing to leave. Judge Southwick wrote the principal dissent, arguing that detention infringes on liberty for people who have established residence in the U.S. Judge Richman concurred only in the judgment. The ruling closes the main route judges in Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi used to free detainees, and backs a policy adopted last year of holding people arrested in the interior until their cases end. Judges have ruled against no-bond detentions more than 21,150 times in the past year, and the case is expected to reach the Supreme Court.

The right-leaning Breitbart and The Blaze present the decision as a victory for the administration. Breitbart's headline says illegal aliens get no release card, and it highlights Wilson's reasoning, the three men's backgrounds and the break from earlier administrations. The Blaze calls it the most consequential ruling yet and ties it to the president's mass-deportation promise. The left-leaning New Republic leads with lost due process for hundreds of detainees, many with no criminal record and deep U.S. ties, and cites the 21,150 figure and the likely Supreme Court appeal. The New York Times, in its headline and excerpt, stresses that the ruling backs Trump on constitutionality and curtails judges' power to free immigrants. Both sides agree on the 10-7 vote and on the closing of the judges' legal route. They differ in terminology and in whose circumstances they emphasize. Reason, an independent outlet, counts the vote as 9-8 and focuses on Southwick's dissent and Trump's deal with that judge over his replacement.