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A unanimous panel of three judges from the Second Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the Trump administration's policy that mandated mandatory detention without the possibility of requesting bail for detained migrants, regardless of how long they had been living in the United States.
The ruling described the measure as “the broadest mass detention mandate without bail in the nation’s history for millions of non-citizens,” and emphasized that it raises “serious constitutional questions.”
A cross-cutting judicial rejection
The opinion was written by Judge Joseph F. Bianco—appointed by Trump himself—and supported by Judges Alison J. Nathan (nominated by Biden) and José A. Cabranes (nominated by Clinton), highlighting the bipartisan nature of the judicial rejection of the measure.
Bianco wrote that the policy would send "a seismic shock through our immigration detention system and society, overwhelming our already overloaded detention infrastructure, incarcerating millions, separating families, and disrupting communities."
The ruling applies to the states of New York, Connecticut, and Vermont, and opens the door for the Supreme Court to definitively determine whether the government can detain millions of migrants indefinitely without giving them the opportunity to appear before a judge.
The case that originated the decision
The case that prompted the ruling involves Ricardo Aparecido Barbosa da Cunha, a Brazilian citizen who entered the United States around 2005, applied for asylum in 2016, and obtained a work permit while his application was under review.
Da Cunha has no criminal record, owns a home in Massachusetts where he lives with his wife and their two children who are U.S. citizens, and runs a small construction business.
He was arrested by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in September 2025 under an administrative order and placed in deportation proceedings, without being allowed to request bail before an immigration judge.
Origin of immigration policy
The questioned policy was implemented through a memorandum signed in July 2025 by Todd M. Lyons -acting director of ICE- who ordered that all migrants be treated without inspection as subject to mandatory detention, reversing decades of practice where this measure was limited to those who had just crossed the border or had serious criminal records.
Saturation of courts and majority rejection
This reinterpretation has overwhelmed federal courts, with approximately 30,000 petitions for Habeas Corpus from migrants who, unable to request bail in immigration courts, turned to the judicial system.
More than 370 federal judges -approximately 90% of those who have considered these requests- have rejected the government's position, according to data cited in the ruling itself.
An analysis by the American medium Politico found that 420 district judges have rejected Trump's position, compared to only 47 who have supported it.
However, the most recent ruling by the Second Circuit creates a judicial split with the courts of the Fifth and Eighth Circuits that - in divided rulings of two to one - supported the administration's mandatory detention policy under Trump, placing the case on a direct path to the Supreme Court.
Government reaction and response from civil organizations
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) anticipated an appeal and defended the measure.
"Trump and Secretary Markwayne Mullin are enforcing this law as it was written to keep America safe," stated the DHS, noting that "judicial activists have repeatedly been overturned by the Supreme Court on these matters."
On the opposite side, Amy Belsher, director of Immigrant Rights Litigation at the New York Civil Liberties Union, celebrated the ruling.
"The government cannot forcibly detain millions of non-citizens, many of whom have lived here for decades, without an opportunity to seek their release. It defies the Constitution, the Immigration and Nationality Act, and basic human decency," Belsher stated.
Impact on the Cuban community
The impact of the new immigration policy on the Cuban community has been considerable: detentions of Cubans by ICE increased by 463% from October 2024, with 1,152 Cubans arrested by January 2026, 60% of them in South Florida, many of whom were holders of the I-220A form and detained without the possibility of bail.
The arrests of migrants with no criminal records increased by 770% under the Trump administration until April 2026, and some Cubans only achieved their release through bail amounts of up to $25,000.
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