A federal judge on Thursday threw out an administrative board's decision that endorsed the Trump administration's policy of placing thousands of people arrested during its immigration crackdown in mandatory detention without a chance to be released on bond. Under federal immigration law, "applicants for admission" to the United States are subject to mandatory detention while their cases proceed in immigration courts and are ineligible for bond hearings. The Board of Immigration Appeals, which is part of the U.S. Department of Justice, issued a decision in September that adopted that interpretation, leading to immigration judges nationally employed by the department to mandate detention. Sykes in a ruling in December declared the DHS policy unlawful but stopped short of vacating the board's decision. Those immigration judges are employed by the Justice Department.

Source: The Telegraph February 19, 2026 04:38 UTC