Overview
- A divided 2–1 panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals struck down the administration’s reading of a 1996 law to mandate no-bond detention for people arrested inside the country.
- Judge Stanley Marcus wrote that the Immigration and Nationality Act does not give the Executive open-ended power to hold every unadmitted noncitizen without a chance at bond.
- The court said 8 U.S.C. §1225(b)(2)(A) applies to applicants for admission who are seeking entry at inspection, rejecting the government’s view that interior arrests fit that category.
- The ruling deepens a split in the appeals courts, with the 2nd and 11th Circuits rejecting the policy, the 5th and 8th backing it, and the 7th deadlocked, which points toward Supreme Court review.
- The policy had treated long‑time residents who entered unlawfully as ineligible for bond, helping push ICE detention above 70,000 earlier this year and driving hundreds of habeas challenges; DOJ did not comment.