A second federal court ruled Tuesday that individuals detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) are not entitled to bond hearings, addressing a legal issue that has emerged in challenges to Donald Trump’s deportation policies, Fox News reported on Wednesday.
The case centered on Joaquin Herrera Avila, a Mexican national who was arrested in Minneapolis in August. Authorities said he was unable to provide documentation authorizing his entry into the United States and was subsequently detained without bond while facing removal proceedings.
“Massive court victory against activist judges and for President Trump’s law and order agenda,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said following the St. Louis-based Eighth Circuit decision to reverse a lower court’s ruling. The Eighth Circuit also ruled that many captured illegal immigrants were ineligible for any release.
The appellate court’s ruling came after a federal judge in Minnesota granted Avila’s petition for habeas corpus, or the right to challenge the legality of his detention, which the Trump administration subsequently challenged, Fox noted.
“We reverse and remand [that ruling] for proceedings consistent with this opinion,” the Eighth Circuit ruled Wednesday in a split decision. George W. Bush-appointed Judge Bobby Shepherd of Arkansas wrote for the majority.
Shepherd noted in his ruling that the lower court relied on a federal law that allowed detention without bond for “an alien who is an applicant for admission [or] seeking admission…” while also considering that Avila was no longer seeking formal admission because he had been residing and working in the U.S. for a number of years.
However, Avila did not pursue further residency options such as naturalization or asylum, according to the court, which ruled that this indicated he was not “seeking admission” in a legal context.
“The Eighth Circuit has held that illegal aliens can be detained without bond — following a similar ruling from the Fifth Circuit last month. The law is very clear, but Democrats and activist judges haven’t wanted to enforce it. This administration will,” Bondi said. “Imagine how many illegal alien crimes could have been averted if the left had simply followed the law?”
The Eighth Circuit’s decision aligns with a related ruling from the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans, which determined that noncitizens can be detained without bond, according to Bloomberg Law. “If Congress wanted to make clear that ‘seeking admission’ was an independent requirement in the statute, it could have easily done so,” the court added.
Noted conservative commentator Gunther Eagleman of the decision: “The Eighth Circuit just overturned an activist judge and upheld ICE’s mass detention policy in a 2-1 ruling.”
“Key decision: Illegal aliens already inside the U.S. can be detained without bond during removal proceedings. This is a massive victory for the deportation mission. Leftist judges can no longer force DHS to simply release invaders into our communities to commit more crimes. Huge L for open borders,” Eagleman added on social media.
In his dissent, U.S. District Judge Ralph R. Erickson of Minnesota, appointed by Trump, noted that Avila had been a law-abiding resident for almost 20 years, except for a single DUI conviction, as though that should matter.
“On August 29, 2025, he was stopped by deportation officers while driving on Cedar Avenue in Minneapolis, Minnesota. For the past 29 years, Avila would have been entitled to a bond hearing during his removal proceedings,” Erickson wrote, noting that the court’s ruling means that Avila and millions of others are now “subject to mandatory detention” under the majority’s reading of current federal law.
“In doing so, the court does not rely on recent congressional action or a change in the regulations governing detention but rather engages in a novel interpretation of ‘alien seeking admission’ that eluded the courts and five previous presidential administrations,” he said.
“Because the court’s interpretation is not supported by the plain meaning of ‘seeking,’ the context of the INA, or the history of the IIRAIRA (an immigration reform law signed by Bill Clinton), I respectfully dissent,” he added.