# Full 5th Circuit Sides With Trump, Rules Illegal Immigrants Held During Removal Cases Have No Constitutional Right to a Bond Hearing

Nine of the 17 judges joined the majority opinion, one more agreed with the result and seven dissented. The Supreme Court hears a separate statutory question Nov. 4.

- Section: [Border & Security](https://rightnewsrightnow.com/border-security/)
- Published: 2026-10-24
- By: RightNewsRightNow Staff
- Canonical page: https://rightnewsrightnow.com/articles/fifth-circuit-full-court-no-bond-hearings-illegal-immigrants-detention-trump-win/

The full 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Friday that the Trump administration can keep detaining certain illegal immigrants without bond hearings while their immigration cases move through the system, the Washington Examiner reports.

The ruling. The court held that the Fifth Amendment did not require bond hearings for three men who entered the country illegally and were never legally admitted. Judge Cory Wilson, a Trump appointee from his first term, wrote the 159-page majority opinion in Sosnava Rodriguez v. Ortega, joined by eight other judges. "Due process does not entitle them to additional proceedings beyond what Congress has provided before they may be detained pending removal," Wilson wrote. He said the men's detention "presented no constitutional issues." Judge Priscilla Richman agreed with the result but not the reasoning. Seven judges dissented.

The administration's reaction. DHS counsel James Percival called it a "big win" on mandatory detention, "a principle codified in 1996 legislation but ignored by the deep state for decades."

The policy. Last year the administration began treating illegal immigrants who had lived in the U.S. for years as people "seeking admission," the same category as someone who just arrived. That places them under a provision requiring detention while removal cases proceed, and it bars them from asking an immigration judge for release on bond. A wave of lawsuits followed.

Still unsettled. The ruling deepens a split among the appeals courts. The Examiner says at least nine others, including the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 6th Circuits, have rejected the administration's reading of the law, while the 8th Circuit has upheld it. The Supreme Court agreed Oct. 1 to hear the broader dispute in Rhoney v. Barbosa da Cunha. Arguments are set for Nov. 4, with a ruling expected by June. That case asks whether federal law requires detention in these cases. Friday's ruling answered a different question: whether the Constitution requires bond hearings even when the law requires detention.

Note for readers: the petitioners are represented by the National Immigration Project, the American Immigration Council and Garza & Narvaez PLLC. The Examiner's story does not say whether they will appeal.

## Source

Original reporting: [Washington Examiner](https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/immigration/4777908/appeals-court-sides-with-trump-on-indefinite-illegal-immigrant-detention-policy/)