PRESIDENT Donald Trump’s administration can continue to detain immigrants without bond, marking a major legal victory for the federal immigration agenda and countering a slew of recent lower court decisions across the country that argued the practice is illegal. A panel of judges on the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on Friday evening that the Department of Homeland Security’s decision to deny bond hearings to immigrants arrested across the country is consistent with the constitution and federal immigration law.

 

Specifically, circuit judge Edith H Jones wrote in the 2-1 majority opinion that the government correctly interpreted the Immigration and Nationality Act by asserting that “unadmitted aliens apprehended anywhere in the United States are ineligible for release on bond, regardless of how long they have resided inside the United States.” Under past administrations, most non-citizens with no criminal record who were arrested away from the border had an opportunity to request a bond hearing while their cases wound through immigration court.

 

Historically, bond was often granted to those without criminal convictions who were not flight risks, and mandatory detention was limited to recent border crossers. “That prior administrations decided to use less than their full enforcement authority under” the law “does not mean they lacked the authority to do more,” Jones wrote.