Fifth Circuit Rules Immigrants Who Entered Illegally Have No Right to Bond

The full U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled 10-7 on October 23 that immigrants who entered the country without being admitted can be held without a bond hearing while their deportation cases proceed, no matter how long they have lived here.

The decision reverses three Austin federal court rulings that had freed long-time residents caught after traffic stops in Texas. It applies across the circuit, which covers Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi.

“Because Petitioners have never been admitted to the United States, due process does not entitle them to additional proceedings beyond what Congress has provided before they may be detained pending removal,” Judge Cory Wilson wrote for the majority.

The three Texas cases

The cases involve three men who had lived in the country for more than a decade: a Mexican national in the United States for more than 22 years, a Mexican national here since 2011 and a Honduran national here since 2012. Two have children who are U.S. citizens. All three were taken into Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody after traffic stops between November 2025 and February 2026, the opinion says. The Texas Tribune reported that Texas state troopers made the stops.

Federal district judges in Austin ordered them released, ruling that holding them without a chance at bond violated due process. A three-judge panel of the Fifth Circuit agreed in July. The full court then reheard the cases and reversed, vacating the release orders. The men were freed after the district court rulings, and the opinion says renewed detention of someone previously released “does not violate due process” while removal remains possible.

What the court held

In July 2025, the Department of Homeland Security changed its position and began treating anyone in the country who was never lawfully admitted, including people “apprehended in the interior,” as subject to mandatory detention under a 1996 provision of federal immigration law. The majority agreed with that reading. Federal law calls such a person an “applicant for admission” no matter how long the person has been in the country, the court held.

The majority also said the men can end their detention themselves. “They can do so at any moment by agreeing to leave the country,” Wilson wrote. “In no other context implicating a core liberty interest does the detainee hold the keys to his confinement.”

Judge Andrew Oldham, concurring, wrote that such immigrants “receive exactly the same due process rights that they would have if they had come through a legal port of entry,” which “are whatever rights Congress chooses to give them.”

The dissent

Seven judges dissented. “With respect, I conclude this court has constructed an impenetrable wall between the Constitution and these long-term residents, a wall not designed, recognized, or even suggested by the Supreme Court,” Judge Leslie Southwick wrote.

The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a separate case on the same detention policy, the Tribune reported.

What it means for Texas

The ruling matters most in Texas. Texas law enforcement turns people over to federal immigration agents after routine stops, as happened in all three of these cases according to the Tribune, and federal detention centers in Texas hold people moved here from other states. Judge Stephen Higginson’s dissent cites news reports that detainees are being transferred to Texas after the Fifth Circuit’s rulings.

For Texas, the result is that the people its officers hand to federal agents can now be held in Texas facilities until their cases end, under a rule the full Fifth Circuit has settled for the three states it covers. Whether that rule holds nationwide is now a question for the Supreme Court.