Federal Appeals Court Blocks Trump’s Mandatory ICE Detention Policy

A federal appeals court on Wednesday struck down the Trump administration’s policy mandating the detention of immigrants without the possibility of bond. The decision by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, based in Miami, Florida, marks the latest legal setback for the administration’s controversial immigration enforcement strategy.

Why it matters: The ruling is the second federal appeals court decision to reject the mandatory detention policy, while two others have upheld it. One court has yet to reach a decision. The conflicting rulings raise the likelihood that the Supreme Court will ultimately weigh in on the legality of the policy.

Driving the news: The case centers on the Trump administration’s reinterpretation of a 1996 law governing immigration detention and bond eligibility. Under the revised policy, implemented last year, immigrants who enter the country illegally are detained by ICE without the possibility of bond, regardless of their length of stay in the U.S. This change has contributed to a surge in ICE detention numbers, which peaked at over 70,000 earlier in 2024.

Key takeaway: In the opinion, Judge Stanley Marcus wrote,

"Simply put, the language that Congress has chosen to use does not grant to the Executive unfettered authority to detain, without the possibility of bond, every unadmitted alien present in the country." Nowhere in the text, structure, or history of the INA does that reading find steady footing.

By the numbers: A Politico analysis found that hundreds of federal courts have ruled against the mandatory detention policy as migrants increasingly file habeas corpus petitions to challenge their detention.

What’s next: The conflicting appeals court decisions suggest the Supreme Court will likely take up the issue to resolve the legal dispute.

The other side: The Department of Justice did not respond to a request for comment by Wednesday evening.