The Trump administration scored a victory on Wednesday as an appeals court ruled that it can detain illegal immigrants without bond.
A three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 in favor of the Department of Homeland Security’s detention policy, in the case of illegal immigrant Joaquin Herrera Avila.
All three judges on the 8th Circuit panel were Republican appointees, one appointed by President George W. Bush and two by President Donald Trump.
Avila, an illegal immigrant from Mexico, was apprehended in Minneapolis in August 2025. The Department of Homeland Security detained Avila without bond and brought removal proceedings against him. When Avila sued for habeas corpus, U.S. District Judge John Tunheim, a Bill Clinton appointee, sided with him.
On Wednesday, however, the panel majority rejected the plaintiff’s argument that being in the United States was the same as being legally authorized to enter the country, or “admitted.” It reversed the district court’s ruling that the administration could not detain Avila without bond under the relevant statute.
“Being ‘admitted’ does not merely mean being present in the United States; under immigration law, it signifies having made a lawful entry into the country,” stated the opinion by Judge Bobby Shepherd, the Bush appointee, joined by Trump-appointed Judge L. Steven Grasz.
Attorney General Pam Bondi, among the officials named as a defendant in the case, praised the decision in a post on X as a “MASSIVE COURT VICTORY against activist judges and for President Trump’s law and order agenda!”
She cited two other circuit court rulings that illegal immigrants can be detained without bond. “The law is very clear, but Democrats and activist judges haven’t wanted to enforce it,” Bondi posted. “Imagine how many illegal alien crimes could have been averted if the left had simply followed the law?”
Judge Ralph Erickson, a Trump appointee, dissented, writing, “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.”
The 8th Circuit Court covers Arkansas, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota.