Fifth Circuit greenlights sweeping mandatory detention for immigration applicants

A divided Fifth Circuit panel ruled that the Trump administration can deny bond hearings for many people in deportation proceedings by treating all “applicants for admission” as subject to mandatory detention, aligning with an ICE memo that expands detention to individuals who entered the U.S. without admission. The decision overrides decades of policy and most lower courts, sparking opposition from the dissent and from the ACLU, which represents the petitioners challenging the policy.