A federal appeals court ruled Tuesday that illegal immigrants detained by ICE have no right to a bond hearing, dealing a significant legal blow to immigration attorneys who have been using those hearings to spring detainees back onto American streets.
The Eighth Circuit reversed a district court ruling in a 2-1 decision, finding that Mexican national Joaquin Herrera Avila, captured in Minneapolis last August without valid legal immigration credentials, could be held without bond while facing deportation proceedings.
The ruling aligns the Eighth Circuit with a similar Fifth Circuit decision from last month, giving the Trump administration back-to-back appellate wins on one of the core legal tools used to obstruct deportations.
“MASSIVE COURT VICTORY against activist judges and for President Trump’s law and order agenda,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said after the ruling came down. “The Eighth Circuit has held that illegal aliens can be detained without bond — following a similar ruling from the Fifth Circuit last month. The law is very clear, but Democrats and activist judges haven’t wanted to enforce it. This administration WILL. Imagine how many illegal alien crimes could have been averted if the left had simply followed the law?”
The case turned on a specific question of immigration law: whether an illegal immigrant who had lived and worked in the United States for years without seeking legal status was “seeking admission” under federal statute. District courts in both circuits had said no, relying on that reasoning to grant detainees like Avila the chance to challenge their detention and potentially walk free.
Judge Bobby Shepherd, a George W. Bush appointee from Arkansas, wrote for the majority and rejected that interpretation. Avila never sought naturalization or asylum, which the court said meant he remained in the legal category of someone seeking admission, and therefore subject to mandatory detention without bond.
The ruling blocks a procedural move immigration lawyers have used aggressively to slow deportation timelines. Under the district court’s logic, any illegal immigrant who had simply remained in the country long enough could argue they had “integrated” past the admission stage and earn a bond hearing. Appellate courts in two different circuits have now said that argument doesn’t hold.
The Trump administration has made deportation speed a central priority, and legal challenges to detention have been among the most effective tools used to delay removals. A detainee who earns a bond hearing can sometimes secure release and disappear before deportation proceedings conclude.
