Appeals Court to Hear Arguments on Trump Policy Denying Bond Hearings to ICE Detainees

BOSTON – A federal appeals court will hear arguments Monday in a class-action lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s policy of detaining people and systematically denying bond hearings to thousands arrested in New England by federal immigration officials.

In 2025, the federal government began systematically misclassifying people based on an incorrect reinterpretation of federal immigration law. The government’s new policy upended 30 years of precedent and the plain language of federal law.

As a result, millions of people are at risk of detention without any possibility of release on bond, solely because they are in ongoing civil immigration proceedings. Trial courts have granted habeas petitions rejecting the government’s policy of mandatory detention in hundreds of cases throughout the country. The Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals also rejected the government’s policy earlier this week.

The case originated in September 2025 when the ACLU of Maine and several other advocates filed the class action lawsuit, Guerrero Orellana v. Moniz, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts. Maine falls under the jurisdiction of the Boston Immigration Court, which is within the District of Massachusetts.

WHAT: Arguments in Guerrero Orellana v. Moniz

WHEN: Monday, May 4, 9:30 a.m. (Fifth case in order of arguments)

WHO: Adriana Lafaille, an attorney with the ACLU of Massachusetts, will present oral arguments.

WHERE:

John Joseph Moakley United States Courthouse

1 Courthouse Way

Boston, MA 02210

Court of Appeals Panel Courtroom, 7th floor

LISTEN LIVE: https://www.youtube.com/@USCourtsCA1

The class and individual petitioner are represented by the ACLU of Maine, ACLU of Massachusetts, the national ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project, the ACLU of New Hampshire, Annelise Araujo Law, Foley & Hoag LLP, and the Harvard Immigration and Refugee Clinic.

For almost 30 years, the government and courts have understood that people arrested by immigration authorities inside the United States are generally eligible for a bond hearing to determine if they will be detained or released during their immigration proceedings. The Trump administration reversed this in early July 2025, reinterpreting immigration laws to subject anyone who initially entered the country without inspection to detention without any possibility of release on bond.

The original class action complaint in this case was filed on behalf of Jose Arnulfo Guerrero Orellana and a class of similarly situated individuals. In October 2025, the district court granted a preliminary injunction and ordered a bond hearing for Mr. Guerrero Orellana, who was later released on bond. Later that month, the court certified a class of individuals arrested by federal immigration officials inside the United States and held in New England detention facilities. In December, the district court granted partial summary judgment and rejected the government’s incorrect interpretation of federal statute. The federal government appealed this victory in January 2026.

As the lawsuit argued and the district court ruling affirmed, the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice abruptly began to misclassify people arrested by ICE inside the United States in 2025. These people may only be detained under the statutory authority of 8 U.S.C. § 1226, which usually allows for the opportunity to request release on bond during removal proceedings. However, starting in July 2025, the Trump administration began systematically misclassifying many of these people and placing them in mandatory no-bond detention under the provisions of 8 U.S.C. § 1225. The district court ruled that the government’s action violated the law, restoring access to bond hearings for a class of people arrested and detained throughout New England.

As revealed in subsequent court filings, the government’s chief immigration judge later instructed her colleagues to ignore declarations like the one entered in this case. Immigration judges continue to systematically deny bond hearings to people arrested within the United States by ICE who allegedly entered without inspection, no matter how long the person has been in the country. This policy violates the plain language of the federal detention statutes and could deny fundamental due process rights to millions of people.

Read more about this case and see relevant legal documents here.

Read more about the federal statutes underpinning this case here.