The full U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit on Friday, October 23, upheld the Trump administration's policy of mandatory detention for noncitizens, ruling in a split decision that constitutional due process protections did not entitle three migrant men to bond hearings in immigration court, Bloomberg Law reported.

Source: Bloomberg Law

Judge Cory Wilson wrote the opinion, joined by eight colleagues, Bloomberg Law reported. Judge Priscilla Richman concurred with the result but not the legal reasoning, and seven judges dissented. Wilson wrote that the length of the men's stay in immigration detention presented no constitutional issues warranting their release.

Source: Bloomberg Law

A separate summary of the ruling the same day said the en banc court held that immigrants who entered the U.S. illegally can be detained during deportation proceedings without individualized bond hearings, even after living in the country for decades, reversing three orders granting their release.

Source: Justice News 247 / SCOTUS Wire

Wilson wrote that while the petitioners have Fifth Amendment protections, they have not been admitted to the U.S., so due process does not entitle them to additional proceedings beyond what Congress has provided before they may be detained pending removal, Bloomberg Law reported. The court had already found there is no statutory right to a bond hearing in such cases.

Bloomberg Law said that last year, in a departure from nearly three decades of practice, the administration began classifying noncitizens who have long lived within U.S. borders as 'seeking admission' — the same as people who had just entered the country — an interpretation that denied them bond hearings and helped spark a flood of habeas corpus petitions.

A Fifth Circuit panel had upheld the policy in February as a matter of statutory interpretation, and a later panel agreed that due process required bond hearings. The en banc court threw out that later decision and heard the due process arguments as a full court, with oral arguments on September 24, Bloomberg Law reported. The Fifth Circuit covers Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi.

The noncitizen petitioners are represented by the National Immigration Project, the American Immigration Council and Garza & Narvaez PLLC, Bloomberg Law reported. The case is Sosnava Rodriguez v. Ortega, 5th Cir., No. 26-50183, opinion dated October 23, 2026.