US Appeals Court Limits ICE Detention Without Bond Hearings After 90 Days

A U.S. federal appeals court ruled that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) cannot detain migrants for more than 90 days without giving them an opportunity to seek release through a bond hearing, dealing a setback to the Trump administration’s immigration detention policy.

In a 2-1 decision, the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said prolonged detention without a bond hearing violates the Fifth Amendment’s due process protections. The ruling could affect thousands of migrants held in Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi under President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.

The decision follows an earlier ruling by another panel of the same court that upheld the administration’s interpretation of federal immigration law allowing mandatory detention of certain non-citizens already living in the United States. However, that case did not address whether the Constitution requires detainees to receive bond hearings.

Writing for the majority, Judge Leslie Southwick said the Fifth Amendment protects everyone within U.S. borders, regardless of citizenship status, citing Supreme Court precedent that guarantees the right to be heard when personal liberty is restricted. The case involved two Mexican nationals and one Honduran national challenging their continued detention.

Judge Cory Wilson, a Trump appointee, dissented, arguing that Congress has broad constitutional authority over immigration and that the majority gave insufficient weight to that power.

The American Immigration Council welcomed the ruling, calling it a reaffirmation that the government cannot detain individuals indefinitely without meaningful judicial review. The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately comment.

The decision comes as federal appeals courts remain divided over the Trump administration’s expanded interpretation of mandatory detention. The administration has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to resolve the dispute and clarify the scope of ICE’s detention authority nationwide.