An appeals court ruled Wednesday that the Trump administration can detain illegal aliens without holding a bond hearing.
Ironically enough, this huge victory for the administration comes courtesy of illegal alien Joaquin Herrera Avila.
After Avila was apprehended in Minneapolis last August for failing to show documentation that he was allowed to be in the United States, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) detained him without holding a hearing and immediately began deportation proceedings.
During our day with @ICEgov, agents arrested three of their targets:
•Joaquin Herrera-Avila, a Mexican national convicted of DWI
•Omar Abdi Jamal, a Somali national convicted of immigration fraud (and well-known Somali activist)
•Qesmat Din Zafran, an Afghan national convicted… https://t.co/VjpFCjftxz— Joe Moeller (@joemoeller44) August 29, 2025
Avila subsequently filed a petition demanding a bond hearing, after which an “activist judge” in Minnesota granted the petition.
According to The Guardian, the judge bizarrely said that while the law allows the government to detain illegal aliens who are seeking admission into the United States without bond, the rule didn’t apply to Avila since he’d been living in the United States for years and was thus not seeking admission.
However, Wednesday’s decision not only basically reversed the judge’s ruling, but it also established a rule that bond hearings aren’t necessary.
The ruling was made by a three-member panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit that voted 2-1 on the matter, with Judge Bobby Shepard, a W. Bush appointee, and Judge L. Steven Grasz, a Trump appointee, ruling against the illegal alien.
Judge Ralph R. Erickson, a Trump appointee from the president’s first term in office, dissented.
Writing the majority opinion, Shepherd ruled that the law is “clear that an ‘applicant for admission’ is also an alien who is ‘seeking admission,'” meaning the prior lower-court judge was wrong.
In his dissent, Rickson touted Avila’s status as a supposedly longtime law-abiding resident of America — never mind his DUI conviction.
“Except for a single DUI, for nearly 20 years, Joaquin Herrera Avila had been living a law-abiding life in the United States,” Erickson wrote. “For the past 29 years, Avila would have been entitled to a bond hearing during his removal proceedings. The court now holds that Avila—and millions of others—are subject to mandatory detention.”
“In doing so, the court does not rely on recent congressional action or a change in the regulations governing detention but rather engages in a novel interpretation of ‘alien seeking admission’ that eluded the courts and five previous presidential administrations,” he added.
Attorney General Pam Bondi celebrated the ruling.
MASSIVE COURT VICTORY against activist judges and for President Trump’s law and order agenda!
The Eighth Circuit has held that illegal aliens can be detained without bond — following a similar ruling from the Fifth Circuit last month.
The law is very clear, but Democrats and…
— Attorney General Pamela Bondi (@AGPamBondi) March 25, 2026
“MASSIVE COURT VICTORY against activist judges and for President Trump’s law and order agenda!” she wrote on social media. “The Eighth Circuit has held that illegal aliens can be detained without bond — following a similar ruling from the Fifth Circuit last month.”
“The law is very clear, but Democrats and activist judges haven’t wanted to enforce it. This administration WILL. Imagine how many illegal alien crimes could have been averted if the left had simply followed the law? Our attorneys @thejusticedept will never stop fighting for President Trump’s agenda,” she added.
Bondi was not wrong to be very excited by the decision.
“Last fall, a Justice Department-run immigration court made a sweeping determination that the government could essentially detain a large swath of immigrants indefinitely while their removal proceedings are pending,” according to CBS News.
“Since then, federal courts across the United States have been crushed by a tidal wave of cases filed by immigrants challenging their detention. In most cases, U.S. District Courts have sided with the immigrants and ruled against the government,” the report continues.
Meaning that hundreds of illegal aliens have been granted bond hearings that they certainly didn’t deserve. Except that this will no longer be happening thanks to Avila.
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V. Saxena is a staff writer with a decade of experience as a professional writer, and a lifetime of experience as an avid news junkie. He holds a degree in computer technology from Purdue University. Saxena also contributes to BizPac Review.
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