The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals barred lower court judges from releasing migrants who claim the Constitution requires their release before they can be deported.
“Another big win out of the 5th Circuit,” said an X post by James Percival, the General Counsel at the Department of Homeland Security. He continued:
DHS’s [2025] change in legal position on illegal alien detention restored the policy set by Congress and rejected a misreading of the law that perpetuated open borders for decades.
“It’s not too late to take a $2,600 check and a free flight home,” he added, referring to the push by DHS to encourage migrants to self-deport before being arrested.
“Big win for President Trump!” noted Eric W, a conservative lawyer with an X account. He added:
The full Fifth Circuit took the case. And tipping their hand, today they stayed the district court order. Due Process habeas releases should be OVER in the Fifth
The Fifth Circuit covers Louisiana, Mississippi, and the critical state of Texas, which includes large detention centers that hold many illegal migrants from other states.
The win is good for President Donald Trump’s agents who face growing GOP criticism for deporting only a small share of the roughly 8 million wage-cutting, rent-spiking migrants welcomed by President Joe Biden.
The Fifth Circuit’s decision shut down a novel argument from the lawyers — that the Constitution’s Due Process language bars the long-term detention of migrants. That argument was pushed after multiple courts shut down a prior argument that claimed Congress mandated the release of migrants who had been living in the United States for several years.
The court decision is important because many elite-funded lawyers are being paid to spring illegal migrants from detention before ICE can either send them home or persuade them to go home via “voluntary removal.” This year, judges have released more than 11,000 illegals detained by ICE before they could be deported.
Once released, the migrants can skip location and restart working to raise money for lawyers. More importantly, the hope of a quick release causes detained migrants to fight and delay their formal deportation instead of agreeing to a fast-track voluntary removal. Also, every fight and delay reduces the number of illegal migrants who can be deported each month by ICE.
The legal fight will be resolved by the Supreme Court because some judges in other jurisdictions have voted to endorse both claims made by the migrants’ lawyers.
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