A federal appeals court in Atlanta has dealt another blow to the Trump administration's policy of denying bond hearings to people in immigration detention, deepening a split among US circuit courts that may now require the Supreme Court to intervene.
The 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 on Wednesday that the government does not have the authority to hold noncitizens indefinitely without the possibility of bail while their deportation cases are pending. The decision came in the cases of two Mexican men living unlawfully in the US since 2015 and 2019, who were arrested in Florida traffic stops last September.
The majority opinion, written by Senior Circuit Judge Stanley Marcus, held that a section of federal law limiting detention without bond to those “seeking admission” to the country does not apply to people already living inside the US. “Congress has preserved the longstanding border-interior distinction for the purposes of detention,” the ruling said.
Circuit Judge Barbara Lagoa, a Trump appointee, dissented, arguing that unlawfully present immigrants are deemed applicants for admission under the law and that the majority was reading an exception into the statute. The Trump administration had argued that the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 supports mandatory detention for all deportation cases.
The 11th Circuit's decision follows a similar ruling by the 2nd Circuit in April, while the 8th and 5th Circuits have upheld the policy. On Tuesday, a 7th Circuit panel produced three different opinions, with one judge backing the administration, another opposing it, and a third declining to take sides. The deepening divide among circuit courts increases the likelihood that the Supreme Court will be asked to resolve the matter.
Since the Department of Homeland Security announced in July that all immigrants in deportation proceedings would be treated like new arrivals, tens of thousands of detainees have filed habeas corpus petitions in federal court challenging their detention, creating a heavy workload for the judiciary.
