Overview
- The Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Thursday that people who have built lives in the United States must receive a bond hearing within 90 days of detention and that the government must show individualized justification to hold them without bond.
- The 2-1 panel majority, written by Judge Leslie H. Southwick, said the government must prove a detainee is a danger, likely to flee, or offer another specific legal reason for continued detention, while Judge James E. Graves Jr. agreed but called 90 days too long and Judge Cory Wilson dissented.
- The case began with the arrests of three longtime Texas residents in traffic stops who were turned over to ICE and later freed by lower courts that found holding them without hearings violated due process.
- The ruling widens an existing split among federal appeals courts over a July 2025 administration policy that sought to keep many noncitizens detained until removal and that has produced about 47,000 habeas petitions in the first 13 months of the policy.
- Legal experts say the decision increases the odds the Supreme Court will resolve the conflict, and the practical effects could include faster bond hearings in Fifth Circuit jurisdictions and changes to how attorneys pursue habeas challenges for detained immigrants.