US appeals court rejects Trump expansion of mandatory migrant detention

xwhatsapp-strokecopylinkgoogleAdd Al Jazeera on GoogleinfoThe outside of an ICE facility run by the GEO Group in California, where lawsuits and legislation have attempted to reform the use of private companies in immigrant detention facilities [File: Chris Carlson/AP Photo]By The Associated PressPublished On 30 Jul 202630 Jul 2026A federal appeals court has ruled that the administration of President Donald Trump cannot deny immigrants detained inside the United States a chance for release on bond.

On Thursday, the San Francisco-based 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals issued the decision with a vote of two to one, with a judge appointed by President Donald Trump in the majority.

The ruling deepened a split between federal appeals courts over the administration’s mandatory detention policy.

Four other appeals courts have also rejected the policy, while the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans and Eighth Circuit in St Louis have sided with the Trump administration.

The expanding circuit split increases the likelihood that the US Supreme Court will eventually take up the issue. The administration last month asked the high court to consider it.

The US Department of Homeland Security said in a statement that it “strongly disagrees with the Ninth Circuit panel and is confident in its legal position regarding mandatory detention”.

“President Donald Trump and Secretary [Markwayne] Mullin are now enforcing the law as it was actually written to keep America safe,” the statement said.

Under previous administrations, most noncitizens without a criminal record arrested inside the US were allowed to seek a bond hearing while their immigration cases were pending.

Mandatory detention was generally reserved for people arrested at the border.

Last July, immigration officials issued guidance expanding mandatory detention to immigrants in the US interior.

The move – part of the Trump administration’s mass deportation campaign – prompted a deluge of federal lawsuits by immigrants seeking release from custody.

Some federal judges who ordered bond hearings blasted the administration for repeatedly violating their orders.

The Trump administration has argued that Congress changed immigration law in 1996 to allow mandatory detention beyond the border, but previous administrations did not enforce the provision.

Writing for the majority in Thursday’s ruling, 9th US Circuit Judge Daniel Bress rejected the argument.

“Although no reading of the complicated and interrelated textual provisions at issue here is without some shortcomings, the historical understanding of the statute is the better one,” Bress, a Trump appointee, wrote.

He was joined by Judge M Margaret McKeown, who was appointed by former President Bill Clinton.

Judge Carlos Bea, who was appointed by former President George W Bush, dissented, saying the text and purpose of an amendment Congress approved in 1996 support the Trump administration’s reading.