(TNND) — An appeals court handed the Trump administration another appellate victory on Wednesday, ruling that certain detained immigrants can be held without bond.
The 2–1 decision by the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis follows a similar ruling by the 5th Circuit last month, which found the Department of Homeland Security’s policy of denying bond hearings to some immigrants consistent with federal law.
Several lower courts across the country have found the practice unlawful.
Attorney General Pam Bondi called the ruling a “MASSIVE COURT VICTORY against activist judges and for President Trump’s law and order agenda!”
“The Eighth Circuit has held that illegal aliens can be detained without bond — following a similar ruling from the Fifth Circuit last month,” Bondi wrote on X. “The law is very clear, but Democrats and activist judges haven’t wanted to enforce it. This administration WILL. Imagine how many illegal alien crimes could have been averted if the left had simply followed the law?”
Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said in a July 2025 memo that immigrants who enter the United States illegally will no longer be eligible for a bond hearing while fighting deportation, meaning they could be held for months or years.
In the case before the 8th Circuit, Joaquin Herrera Avila of Mexico was apprehended in Minneapolis in August 2025 for lacking legal authorization to enter the United States. The Department of Homeland Security detained him without bond and initiated deportation proceedings.
He filed a petition seeking immediate release or a bond hearing. A federal judge in Minnesota granted the petition, finding that the statute allowing detention without bond applies only to individuals “seeking admission,” and that Avila did not fall into that category.
Writing for the majority, Circuit Judge Bobby E. Shepherd said the law was “clear that an ‘applicant for admission’ is also an alien who is ‘seeking admission,'” meaning Avila was subject to detention without bond.
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Circuit Judge Ralph R. Erickson dissented, saying Avila would have been entitled to a bond hearing for nearly three decades under longstanding government practice.
