Eighth Circuit Backs Trump Policy Allowing Many Immigration Detainees to Be Held Without Bond
The Eighth Circuit ruled that the Trump administration may hold many immigration detainees without bond, rejecting a district judge’s view in the case of Joaquin Herrera Avila — a longtime Minnesota resident arrested in August 2025 for lacking legal documents — and adopting Judge Bobby Shepherd’s reading that an “applicant for admission” falls within the statute’s mandatory‑detention category. The divided panel (with Judge Ralph Erickson dissenting) makes the Eighth the second appeals court to uphold DHS’s nationwide no‑bond policy, a decision Attorney General Pam Bondi hailed as a major victory that critics say narrows habeas‑corpus review even as some district courts (notably in California) have found the practice unlawful and more than 30,000 habeas petitions challenging immigration detention have been filed since Trump took office.
📌 Key Facts
- The Eighth Circuit upheld the Trump administration/DHS nationwide no‑bond policy for a class of immigration detainees, becoming the second appeals court (after the Fifth Circuit) to do so; recent district‑court rulings in California and elsewhere have found the practice illegal.
- The case involved Joaquin Herrera Avila, a longtime Minnesota resident from Mexico arrested in August 2025 in Minneapolis for lacking legal documents, who sought immediate release or a bond hearing.
- The district judge concluded Herrera Avila was not an 'alien seeking admission' because he had lived in the U.S. for years without applying for lawful status; the Eighth Circuit majority rejected that reading.
- Judge Bobby Shepherd wrote that an 'applicant for admission' is also an alien 'seeking admission,' thereby placing Herrera Avila within the statute’s mandatory‑detention category.
- Judge Ralph Erickson dissented, warning that for nearly 29 years people like Herrera Avila would have received bond hearings and that the majority’s interpretation now sweeps in 'millions of others.'
- The ruling narrows habeas corpus protections by limiting when the government must obtain review by a neutral judge before imprisoning someone; Associated Press data notes more than 30,000 federal habeas petitions challenging immigration detention have been filed since Trump took office, with many succeeding.
- Attorney General Pam Bondi publicly hailed the decision on social media as a 'MASSIVE COURT VICTORY,' tying it to President Trump’s 'law and order agenda.'
📊 Relevant Data
As of February 7, 2026, 73.6% of individuals held in ICE detention (50,259 out of 68,289) have no criminal conviction.
TRAC: Immigration Detention Quick Facts — TRAC Reports
Prolonged immigration detention of 6 months or more is associated with poorer self-reported health outcomes among recently detained US immigrants, including higher rates of anxiety, depression, and physical health issues.
Duration in Immigration Detention and Health Harms — JAMA Network Open
The odds of a bond being granted in immigration cases increase from 14% without an attorney to 42% with an attorney, based on data from 2018-2022.
Detained Immigrants Seeking Release on Bond Have Widely Varying Outcomes Depending on the Immigration Court — TRAC Reports
Net migration from Mexico to the US has been negative since 2009, with more Mexicans leaving than arriving, driven by factors such as improved economic conditions in Mexico and family reunification; however, unauthorized Mexican immigrants numbered about 4.8 million in 2022, representing 43% of all unauthorized immigrants.
Mexican Immigrants in the United States — Migration Policy Institute
Latinos have become a central target of ICE detention, with noncriminal Latinos comprising a growing share of detainees from February 2024 through September 2025, amid a sharp rise in overall detentions.
New Analysis Reveals Sharp Rise in ICE Detention of Immigrants with No Criminal Convictions — UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs
📰 Source Timeline (2)
Follow how coverage of this story developed over time
- Detailed description of the underlying case: Joaquin Herrera Avila, a longtime Minnesota resident from Mexico arrested in August 2025 in Minneapolis for lacking legal documents, who sought immediate release or a bond hearing.
- Clarifies the district judge’s reasoning — that Herrera Avila was not an 'alien seeking admission' because he had lived in the U.S. for years without applying for lawful status — and the Eighth Circuit majority’s rejection of that view.
- Provides Judge Bobby Shepherd’s specific statutory interpretation that an 'applicant for admission' is also an alien 'seeking admission,' bringing Herrera Avila within the mandatory‑detention category.
- Expands on Judge Ralph Erickson’s dissent, emphasizing that for nearly 29 years people like Herrera Avila would have received bond hearings, and that the majority’s reading newly sweeps in 'millions of others.'
- Adds Associated Press data that more than 30,000 federal habeas corpus petitions challenging immigration detention have been filed since Trump took office, with many succeeding.
- Documents Attorney General Pam Bondi’s social‑media reaction framing the ruling as a 'MASSIVE COURT VICTORY' and tying it explicitly to Trump’s 'law and order agenda.'
- Notes that the Eighth Circuit is now the second appeals court (after the Fifth Circuit) to uphold DHS’s nationwide no‑bond policy for this class of detainees, and contrasts this with recent district‑court rulings in California and elsewhere that found the practice illegal.
- Explains the broader habeas corpus question at stake: whether the government must obtain review by a neutral judge before imprisoning someone, and how this decision narrows that protection for certain immigrants.