Trump judge rules mass ICE detention without bond hearings illegal

On April 28, 2026, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit unanimously ruled that the Trump administration's policy of 📖mandatory detention without bond hearings for most undocumented immigrants violates the Immigration and Nationality Act. Trump-appointed Judge Joseph Bianco wrote the 3-0 opinion, joined by Judges Alison Nathan and Jose Cabranes, calling the policy "the broadest mass-detention-without-bond mandate in our Nation's history." The case centered on Ricardo Cunha, a Brazilian national who had lived in the United States for more than 20 years with no criminal record and a long-pending asylum application. ICE detained Cunha under the administration's expanded 📖mandatory detention policy, which reclassified interior arrests under INA Section 235 rather than Section 236. The court held that the distinction was clear: Section 236(a) covers immigrants not apprehended at the border, and those individuals are entitled to bond hearings before an immigration judge. The ruling covers the Second Circuit's geographic area of New York, Connecticut, and Vermont. It deepens a 📖circuit split with the Fifth and Eighth Circuits, which have sided with the Trump administration, making Supreme Court review increasingly likely.

Key facts

On April 28, 2026, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled 3-0 that the Trump administration's policy of 📖mandatory detention without bond hearings for most undocumented immigrants violates federal immigration law. Judge Joseph Bianco, a Trump appointee, wrote the opinion and was joined by Judges Alison Nathan and Jose Cabranes. Bianco called the policy the broadest mass-detention-without-bond mandate in the nation's history for millions of noncitizens, and said the government's interpretation defied the unambiguous language of the INA. The case was argued April 6 and decided April 28, with the court finding the government had no winning statutory argument.

The ruling affirmed a lower court order directing ICE to provide a 📖bond hearing to Ricardo Cunha, a Brazilian national who had lived in the United States for more than 20 years, had no criminal record, owned a home and a small construction business, and had a long-pending asylum application filed in 2016. Cunha had been detained under ICE's expanded 📖mandatory detention policy despite these facts. Judge Cabranes noted the absurdity of the government's interpretation, writing that Congress couldn't have intended 📖mandatory detention for millions of people like Cunha—parents of American children, owners of American businesses, members of American communities.

The legal dispute turned on which section of the Immigration and Nationality Act governs the detention of immigrants arrested in the interior of the country. INA Section 235(b) permits 📖mandatory detention for those apprehended at or near the border without bond hearings; INA Section 236(a) governs detention of individuals already in the country and explicitly allows for discretionary bond hearings before an immigration judge. The Trump administration argued that its policy of treating interior arrests as 235(b) detentions was justified by a broad reading of the statute's definition of an applicant for admission. The Second Circuit rejected that argument as implausible and unprecedented, holding that Congress drew a clear distinction between those encountered at the border (235(b)) and those arrested in the interior (236(a)).

The ruling creates and deepens a significant 📖circuit split on mandatory immigration detention. The Fifth Circuit ruled in February 2026 and the Eighth Circuit in March 2026, both siding with the Trump administration and upholding 📖mandatory detention without bond hearings. The First Circuit issued a similar ruling to the Second Circuit in May 2026, rejecting 📖mandatory detention. With four circuits now divided on the question, legal analysts said a Supreme Court petition is near-certain. The split affects hundreds of thousands of immigrants detained by ICE annually. As of early 2026, ICE's detained population was the largest in the agency's history, having grown to more than 65,000 under Trump's expanded enforcement.

The 📖Board of Immigration Appeals, the administrative appeals body within the Justice Department's Executive Office for Immigration Review, ruled in a 2025 decision known as Matter of Yajure Hurtado that bond hearings for mandatory detainees could be eliminated administratively. The Second Circuit ruling directly contradicts this BIA interpretation, creating a conflict between the executive branch's own administrative tribunal and a federal appellate court. Under the Administrative Procedure Act, federal courts review BIA statutory interpretations under Chevron deference principles. However, the Supreme Court's 2024 Loper Bright decision eliminated Chevron deference for agency interpretations of ambiguous statutes. The Second Circuit applied Loper Light directly, finding the statute unambiguous and thus not subject to deference at all.

In the Second Circuit's coverage area of New York, Connecticut, and Vermont, non-criminal immigrants detained by ICE now have a stronger legal claim to a 📖bond hearing before an immigration judge. A 📖bond hearing allows the detainee to argue they aren't a flight risk or danger to the community, potentially securing release on bond while their immigration case proceeds. Without bond hearings, detained immigrants can remain held for months or years while awaiting case resolution. The Trump administration has previously sought emergency stays of unfavorable immigration rulings, and DOJ can petition the Supreme Court for a stay pending certiorari review. Immigration attorneys in New York and Connecticut immediately filed emergency motions seeking bond hearings for clients detained under the no-bond policy, citing the April 28 ruling.

Ricardo Cunha's case illustrates the profile of individuals the 📖mandatory detention policy was applied to most aggressively. Cunha entered the U.S. in 2004 or 2005, had lived in the United States for more than two decades, had no criminal convictions, had family ties and owned a business in Massachusetts, and had an asylum application pending with USCIS. ICE detained him under the expanded 📖mandatory detention classification despite these factors, which under prior policy would have qualified him for a custody determination hearing. Immigration attorneys and civil rights organizations documented similar cases across the Second Circuit: long-term residents with U.S.-citizen family members, individuals with approved visa petitions waiting for priority dates, and people with pending asylum cases.

The Trump administration's 📖mandatory detention policy represented a significant expansion of ICE's detention authority beyond statutory minimums. The policy shift occurred in July 2025, when the BIA issued Matter of Yajure Hurtado, reversing three decades of consistent practice. Under the prior policy framework, most interior arrests of immigrants without criminal convictions were processed under Section 236(a), entitling them to bond hearings. The new interpretation reclassified these individuals as applicants for admission under Section 235(b), eliminating bond hearings for hundreds of thousands of people. Judge Bianco's appointment by Trump made the ruling particularly significant, as it undercut the administration's argument that the policy had a defensible statutory basis using plain-text 📖statutory interpretation.

Fifth Circuit rules immigrants can be detained indefinitely without bond hearings

On February 6, 2026, a divided Fifth Circuit panel ruled in Buenrostro-Mendez v. Bondi that immigrants present in the U.S. without formal admission can be detained indefinitely without bond hearings. Judge Edith Jones's majority opinion held that anyone who entered without inspection—regardless of how long they've lived in the country—falls under mandatory detention law with no judicial review mechanism. The 2-1 decision inverted three decades of immigration law practice and contradicted over 350 federal judges' prior rulings. Judge Dana Douglas's dissent warned that the ruling means "the border is now everywhere," enabling ICE to detain anyone in Texas, Louisiana, or Mississippi under no-bond rules regardless of where they were actually apprehended. The ruling affects an estimated 15,000+ immigrants in the Fifth Circuit alone and blocks habeas corpus rights guaranteeing bond hearings under the U.S. Constitution.

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Eleventh Circuit joins second circuit in rejecting mandatory detention without bond hearings

On May 7, 2026, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that federal immigration law does not allow automatic detention without bond hearings for people arrested in the interior without legal status. The 2-1 decision mirrors the Second Circuit's April 28 ruling, creating a four-way split among federal courts on the same question. The Trump administration's July 2025 policy eliminated bond hearings for anyone who entered without inspection, affecting 65,000+ detainees. The split heightens pressure for Supreme Court review. The case turns on statutory interpretation: does INA § 236(a) (discretionary detention) or § 236(c) (mandatory for certain crimes) apply to interior arrests? After Loper Bright (2024), courts interpret the statute themselves without deference to agency guidance. The split reflects a deeper clash over whether due process requires individualized hearings before detention.

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Judge blocks ICE courthouse arrests after DOJ admits false claims

A federal judge blocked ICE from arresting immigrants at New York City''s three immigration courthouses on May 19, 2026, ruling that the Trump administration likely violated federal law when it reversed a decade-long policy protecting people attending mandatory court hearings. U.S. District Judge P. Kevin Castel of the Southern District of New York — nominated by President George W. Bush and confirmed in September 2003, now serving as a senior judge — issued the 15-page stay in the case African Communities Together v. Lyons (1:25-cv-06366). The stay applies to 26 Federal Plaza, 201 Varick Street, and 290 Broadway in lower Manhattan. ICE may still act on national security threats, imminent violence, hot pursuit, or risk of evidence destruction. The ruling came after Justice Department lawyers admitted in March 2026 that a May 27, 2025 ICE directive — Directive 11072.4 — which they had cited for months to justify courthouse arrests, never applied to immigration courts at all. The next morning, masked ICE agents arrested 21-year-old Alexander, a Honduran man, at 26 Federal Plaza, with agents telling a detention coordinator "We don't care" when shown a copy of the order.

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ICE violated 56 court orders through mid-February, defying judges

Government attorneys admitted that ICE violated 56 court orders in New Jersey alone through mid-February 2026, including 17 unauthorized transfers of detainees after judges ordered them to stay put, missed deadlines, and one deportation to Peru after a judge had blocked it. Associate Deputy Attorney General Jordan Fox filed a declaration identifying 547 immigration cases since early December, acknowledging violations in 56 of them. The admission came after U.S. District Judge Michael Farbiarz demanded a full accounting when ICE transferred a detainee out of his jurisdiction despite a direct order. Meanwhile in Minnesota, Chief Judge Patrick Schiltz -- a George W. Bush appointee and former Antonin Scalia law clerk -- found ICE had violated 96 court orders in 74 cases during January 2026 alone, calling it more violations than some federal agencies have violated in their entire existence. Schiltz ordered acting ICE Director Todd Lyons to appear in court and show cause why he should not be held in contempt. ICE released the detainee before the hearing, but the judge said the release does not end the court concerns. The violations stem from the Trump administration aggressive immigration enforcement push, including Operation Metro Surge in Minnesota, which deployed thousands of federal agents and led to over 4,000 arrests. Fox called the violations unintentional and immediately rectified, but judges across the country have described the pattern as lawless.

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DOJ says ICE used wrong memo to justify immigration court arrests

Justice Department lawyers admitted to U.S. District Judge P. Kevin Castel on March 25, 2026, that the federal government had been citing a May 2025 ICE memo in court to justify arresting immigrants inside immigration courthouses, but that memo never applied to immigration courts. The memo governed arrests at regular civil and criminal courthouses only. DOJ called the error "deeply regrettable" and blamed ICE for the mistake. Despite the admission, a DHS spokesperson said there was no change in policy and that ICE would continue arresting people at immigration courts. The case was brought by African Communities Together and The Door, New York City-based immigrant advocacy organizations, before Judge Castel in the Southern District of New York. The admission raises serious questions about the duty of candor, the legal obligation that prohibits attorneys from making false or misleading statements to a court, and about what legal authority, if any, the government can now cite to justify the arrests it has been conducting without the correct memo. Many people arrested at immigration courts under the erroneous policy have likely already been deported.

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