Trump Administration Immigration Detention Ruling Split Widens in 11 Circuits
The trump administration immigration detention ruling has split federal appeals courts after judges took different sides on the Trump administration’s mandatory ICE detention policy. The policy has jailed thousands of people without bond hearings, including people with work permits and no criminal histories, and Michael Tan said the dispute is likely to reach the Supreme Court.
Last summer, the Trump administration adopted a mass detention policy for people accused of crossing the border without authorization. By next week, judges in 11 of the 12 federal appeals circuits will either have ruled on the question or be considering arguments about it, leaving only the Washington, D.C., circuit outside the fight because there is no immigration detention center there.
Seventh Circuit Division
On Tuesday, a three-judge appeals court panel in the Seventh Circuit split three ways on the question as part of a larger case. That panel joined a wider set of appeals rulings that have not produced a single national answer on whether the administration can keep using the policy as written.
Two appeals courts have ruled with the Trump administration, while one appeals court ruled last week for immigration detainees. Michael Tan, deputy director of the ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project, said Wednesday, “I think it’s likely this issue will be resolved by the [Supreme] Court.”
IIRAIRA And Habeas Petitions
The dispute turns on an extreme reading of the 30-year-old Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigration Responsibility Act, or IIRAIRA. Under that reading, people who have lived in the United States for years without incident can be treated as if they had just crossed the border, making them eligible for detention in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody.
Thousands of jailed undocumented people have challenged that approach through habeas corpus petitions, and the vast majority of several hundred district courts have ruled against the administration. Dozens of Trump appointees have also ruled against the administration, adding to the circuit split that now spans most of the federal appellate map.
Supreme Court Petition
Tan said the ACLU is still weighing its next step after losing two appeals decisions involving its clients: “We’re very much still considering our options [to petition the Supreme Court], especially now that we have a circuit split.” A DHS spokesperson told HuffPost last week, “We are confident in our position, which a majority of courts of appeals have endorsed.” The department has separately said, “ICE has the law and the facts on its side and will be vindicated by higher courts.”
The practical result is that the policy keeps moving through the lower courts while the legal split deepens. With 11 of the 12 circuits now involved or about to be involved, the question is no longer confined to one region; it is heading toward the justices as the next place where the administration’s detention power may be tested.
