Ninth Circuit Halts Judge’s Order on Mandatory ICE Detention (1)

The Ninth Circuit on Friday paused a federal judge’s order that voided a Board of Immigration Appeals decision used by the Trump administration’s immigration judges to deny bond hearings to detained noncitizens and uphold its policy of mandatory detention.

The panel also blocked the December declaratory judgment of US District Judge Sunshine Sykes that found mandatory detention is unsupported by the Immigration Nationality Act from applying in jurisdictions beyond the Los Angeles-based Central District of California. However, that order, which said a nationwide class of detained noncitizens is entitled to bond hearings, still applies in the Central District.

To further its push for mass deportations, the Trump administration has used a novel interpretation of detention statutes to require the mandatory detention of nearly all arrested noncitizens by characterizing them as “seeking admission” to the country. Many detainees have lived in the United States for decades.

The interpretation was formalized by the BIA’s September decision in Yajure Hurtado.

Immigration courts after Sykes’ December order kept declining detainees’ bids to argue for their release. Chief Immigration Judge Teresa Riley said to immigration judges in a January email that they weren’t bound by Sykes’ judgment and still had to follow Yajure Hurtado. In February, Sykes vacated Yajure Hurtado.

The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued its administrative stay pausing both orders in response to the government’s emergency motion for stay pending appeal.

The issue is pending before federal appellate courts nationwide. The Fifth Circuit has backed mandatory detention, and the Seventh Circuit, Eighth Circuit, and and Ninth Circuit recently heard arguments over the policy.

Judges M. Margaret McKeown, Carlos T. Bea, and Daniel A. Bress were on the Ninth Circuit panel granting the administrative stay. They also heard arguments Wednesday in the appeal of a Western District of Washington case challenging Tacoma immigration judges’ interpretation of the detention statute.

McKeown was appointed by former President Bill Clinton, Bea was appointed by former President George W. Bush, and Bress was appointed by President Donald Trump.

The case is Bautista v. US Department of Homeland Security, 9th Cir., No. 26-1044, 3/6/26.