BREAKING
ICE can now lock up immigrants in Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi with no end date, no bail hearing or right to ask a judge why, after a federal appeals court said they have NO due process rights.
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals voted 10-7 on Friday that immigrants who entered the country without being inspected by immigration officials can be held without bond for their entire case, no matter how many years they've lived here. The court covers Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi.
Those three states hold more than 40% of everyone in ICE detention, including more than 20,000 people already being held indefinitely.
The case was brought by three fathers. Texas state troopers pulled them over at routine traffic stops between November 2025 and February 2026 and handed them to ICE, which locked them up without letting them see a judge. All three had lived here at least 14 years, worked that whole time, and have kids who are U.S. citizens. Federal judges ordered them released. The Trump administration appealed, and on Friday it won.
Judge Cory Wilson, a Trump appointee, wrote the majority opinion. He said detainees who want to be free "can do so at any moment by agreeing to leave the country."
In July, a three-judge panel of the same court had ruled the opposite and ordered bond hearings within 90 days. Eight days later, without any official request from the government, the full court decided to rehear the case. That froze the relief the three men had won.
Seven judges dissented. Judge Leslie Southwick, a George W. Bush appointee, wrote that the ruling built an "impenetrable wall between the Constitution and these long-term residents." Judge Dana Douglas warned that "unchecked, executive authority to arrest and detain, indefinitely, echoes fearfully from history."
James Percival, the top lawyer at the Department of Homeland Security, celebrated online. He called it a "big win" for a principle he claimed was "ignored by the deep state for decades."
In most cases, entering the country without papers is a misdemeanor. Rebecca Cassler, the American Immigration Council attorney who argued the case, pointed out that people charged with murder still get strong due process protections before trial. "Violating the law doesn't take away your constitutional rights," she said.
The administration has been moving immigrants from other states into Texas detention centers. At the Adams County Correctional Center in Mississippi, a detainee said a facility built for 2,200 people has been holding more than 2,600 for weeks, as Mississippi Today first reported.
The Supreme Court will hear a related case early next year. That case is only about what the immigration law says. It does not address the Constitution.