Full Fifth Circuit: Illegal Entrants Have No Right to Bond Hearings

The full U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled Friday that immigrants who entered the country illegally have no constitutional right to a bond hearing while they fight deportation, handing the Trump administration a significant win on its mandatory detention policy, according to the court’s published opinion and The Texas Tribune.

The en banc court split 10-7, the Tribune reported. The majority reversed three Western District of Texas rulings that had ordered detained men released and barred immigration authorities from holding them again without individual hearings on flight risk and dangerousness, according to the opinion.

Big win in the Fifth Circuit on mandatory detention for illegal aliens, a principle codified in 1996 legislation but ignored by the deep state for decades. https://t.co/v0EvkcAwH0

— James Percival (@DHSGenCounsel) October 23, 2026

Judge Cory Wilson, a Trump appointee, wrote for the majority that the three petitioners “were not entitled to individual hearings on their dangerousness or flight risk before they could be lawfully detained by immigration authorities pending their removal proceedings.” The court added that “the duration of Petitioners’ detention presented no constitutional issues warranting habeas relief,” according to the opinion.

A win for mandatory detention

Wilson wrote that immigrants who were never lawfully admitted are entitled only to the rights Congress has written into immigration law, The Texas Tribune reported. He added that detainees who want out of custody “can do so at any moment by agreeing to leave the country,” according to the Tribune.

In a concurring opinion, Judge Andrew Oldham wrote that “because such aliens remain legally unadmitted, they receive exactly the same due process rights that they would have if they had come through a legal port of entry — which are whatever rights Congress chooses to give them,” the Tribune reported.

The ruling also wiped out an earlier panel decision. According to the opinion, a divided three-judge panel had imposed a “novel rule” requiring bond hearings within 90 days of confinement before the full court reheard the case on its own motion.

James Percival, the general counsel of the Department of Homeland Security, celebrated the decision in a post on X. “Big win in the Fifth Circuit on mandatory detention for illegal aliens, a principle codified in 1996 legislation but ignored by the deep state for decades,” Percival wrote.

Who the case involved

According to the opinion, Ignacio Sosnava Rodriguez, a Mexican national, had lived in the U.S. without inspection or admission for more than 22 years before ICE detained him after a traffic stop in December 2025. Alejandro Villegas Angel, also from Mexico, had been in the country unlawfully since 2011 and was handed to ICE after police stopped him for driving without a license, the court said. Miguel Angel Gomez Alvarado, a Honduran national, had been in the country since 2012 and was detained after a traffic stop in November 2025, according to the opinion.

The Trump administration adopted the policy in July 2025, declaring that anyone arrested by ICE, regardless of how long they have been in the country, has no right to bond, The Texas Tribune reported.

Critics vow next steps

Judge Leslie Southwick, a George W. Bush appointee, wrote in dissent that the ruling builds an “impenetrable wall between the Constitution and these long-term residents,” according to the Tribune.

Gracie Willis, an attorney with the National Immigration Project, which represents the three men, told the Tribune her group has not decided whether to appeal to the Supreme Court. Rebecca Cassler of the American Immigration Council, who argued the case, called the decision an attack on due process, the Tribune reported.

The ruling binds federal courts in Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi, according to the Tribune, which noted that the administration has moved many detainees from other states to Texas facilities. The Tribune also reported that the Supreme Court agreed earlier this month to hear a separate but similar challenge to the mandatory detention policy, setting up a possible nationwide answer.

Sources

• U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, en banc opinion
• The Texas Tribune
• Justia case summary
• Bloomberg Law
• DHS General Counsel James Percival on X

Reporting by Daily Beltway.