The U.S. can continue to detain immigrants without bond, an appeals court ruled on Wednesday, handing a victory to the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration.
The opinion from a panel of the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis overturned a lower court ruling that required a Mexican national, arrested for lacking legal documents, to be given a bond hearing before an immigration judge.
This is the second appeals court to rule in favor of the administration on this issue, following a similar ruling from the 5th Circuit in New Orleans which found the Department of Homeland Security's denial of bond hearings to arrested immigrants consistent with constitutional and federal immigration laws.
Both decisions conflict with a number of lower court rulings stating that the practice is illegal. For instance, a district court in California had previously allowed detained immigrants with no criminal history the chance to request bond hearings.
Joaquin Herrera Avila of Mexico was apprehended in Minneapolis in August 2025 and subjected to deportation without the option for bond. After a federal judge ruled in his favor, the case escalated to the 8th Circuit.
Circuit Judge Bobby E. Shepherd specified that the law indicates an 'applicant for admission' encompasses those 'seeking admission,' denying Avila's attempt to expedite his hearing.
Dissenting Judge Ralph R. Erickson argued that this ruling places Avila and others in mandatory detention, diverging from historical interpretations used by courts and administrations over the past decades.
Attorney General Pam Bondi praised the decision as a major victory for enforcing law and order. Meanwhile, the American Civil Liberties Union, representing Avila, has yet to respond publicly about the ruling.
The legal foundation of this case hinges on the right of habeas corpus, enabling individuals to challenge unlawful detention, a right that has seen upwards of 30,000 petitions since the Trump administration took office.
