Federal judge voids immigration board ruling enabling mass detention

U.S. District JSJudge Sunshine Sykes vacated the Board of Immigration Appeals' September 2025 decision on February 19, 2026. That BIA ruling — Matter of Yajure Hurtado — had declared that immigration judges lacked authority to grant bond hearings to anyone who entered the country without being formally admitted by an immigration officer.

The BIA's September 2025 ruling stretched the definition of 'applicant for admission' far beyond its historical meaning. Before July 2025, the government had never argued that people who had lived in the U.S. interior for years or decades were subject to the same mandatory detention rules as people arriving at a port of entry for the first time.

Sykes had already ruled the policy unlawful in December 2025. But Chief Immigration Judge TRTeresa Riley — an executive branch employee of the Justice Department, not a member of the independent judiciary — then issued guidance instructing immigration judges to ignore Sykes' federal court order and keep following the BIA ruling instead.

Sykes called the administration's defiance 'shameless' and said officials were 'continuing a campaign of illegal action.' She vacated the BIA ruling entirely on February 19, meaning immigration judges across the country can no longer use it as legal authority to deny bond hearings.

The February 19 ruling is a class action covering detainees nationwide. ICE was holding over 68,000 people in immigration detention as of early February 2026 — more than double the population of two years prior — with 73.6% carrying no criminal conviction.

The ruling puts the Ninth Circuit and Central District of 🌴California in direct conflict with the Fifth Circuit, which upheld mandatory detention in a 2-1 ruling on February 6, 2026. Judges Edith Jones (Reagan appointee) and Kyle Duncan (Trump appointee) formed the majority; Biden appointee JDJudge Dana Douglas dissented, noting that more than 360 federal judges had rejected the government's position.

The Trump administration has simultaneously dismantled the immigration court system it controls. Since January 2025, it fired over 100 immigration judges and cut the BIA from 28 members to 15 — including removing nine members appointed under the prior administration. It also proposed a rule cutting the appeal window for immigrants from 30 to 10 days.

Immigration judges are employees of the Justice Department, not independent members of the judiciary. They can be fired, directed, and overruled by the Attorney General. This structural fact explains why Chief Immigration Judge Riley could issue guidance telling immigration courts to ignore a federal district court order — and why that guidance created the crisis Judge Sykes had to resolve.