Appeals Court Rejects ICE's No-Bond Detention Policy, Saying the Power the Administration Claims 'Does Not Exist'

A divided panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled 2-1 on July 30, 2026 against the Trump administration's reading of the Immigration and Nationality Act, the basis for ICE denying bond hearings to immigrants arrested inside the country. The policy dates to a July 2025 memo from acting ICE Director Todd M. Lyons instructing officers that people who entered without inspection may not be released. The panel held that 8 U.S.C. 1225(b) reaches only people apprehended at the border, while those already in the interior fall under 8 U.S.C. 1226(a), which permits release on bond.

The opinion said that no administration 'has ever found' a duty to mandatorily detain unadmitted noncitizens living in the interior, calling that history 'strong evidence that it does not exist,' and said Congress 'would have spoken more clearly' had it intended so large an expansion of detention authority. At stake is whether large numbers of detained people can seek release while their removal cases proceed.

The ruling is the fifth appellate decision against the government's position, joining the Second, Sixth, Tenth and Eleventh Circuits. The Eighth Circuit has ruled for the administration, a split that makes Supreme Court review likely.