Federal appeals courts have divided over a basic question of immigration detention: can people arrested inside the United States, not at the border, be held without a bond hearing while their removal cases proceed?
The administration has asked the Supreme Court to resolve the disagreement.
How the question arose
ReportedFor decades, people arrested inside the country were generally able to seek release on bond from an immigration judge while their cases were pending; mandatory detention without a hearing was generally applied to people arriving at the border. In July 2025, federal immigration officials adopted guidance treating people arrested inside the United States as subject to mandatory detention as well (AP via KSTP).
How the courts divided
The courts of appeals split. The Fifth and Eighth Circuits sided with the government. Several others rejected the policy, including the Ninth Circuit, which covers California, in a 2–1 decision on August 13, 2026 (AP via KSTP; Bloomberg Government). Because circuit law follows where a person is held, a detained person's access to a bond hearing currently depends on geography.
The two positions
The government's position is that Congress authorized mandatory detention beyond the border when it changed immigration law in 1996, even though earlier administrations did not apply it that way. The challengers' position is that the statute reserves detention without a bond hearing for people arriving at the border and that people living inside the country fall under a different provision that allows bond hearings.
What it means in California while the case is pending
AnalysisUnless the Supreme Court acts in the meantime, the Ninth Circuit's ruling continues to govern detention in California and the other states within that circuit. A bond hearing is not release; it is an opportunity to ask an immigration judge for release, with the judge weighing flight risk and danger.