Ninth Circuit Rejects Trump Administration's Mandatory Detention Expansion, Joining Four Other Circuits Against the Fifth and Eighth

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled, in an opinion filed July 30, 2026 in Rodriguez Vazquez v. Bostock, that aliens present without admission who are apprehended in the interior of the United States are subject to the detention regime of § 1226, not § 1225(b)(2)(A), rejecting the Trump administration’s expansion of mandatory no-bond detention. The vote was two to one, with a judge appointed by President Donald Trump in the majority; Judge Bea dissented.

By the Associated Press’s count, four other appeals courts had also rejected the policy, while the Fifth and Eighth Circuits had sided with the administration (2026-07-10–5th-circuit-en-banc-reinstates-mandatory-detention concerns a separate Fifth Circuit order). The administration last month asked the Supreme Court to consider the question, and the expanding split increases the likelihood that the Court will eventually take up the issue. Earlier circuit entries: 2026-04-28–second-circuit-rules-ice-mandatory-detention-policy-illegal, 2026-05-06–eleventh-circuit-rejects-trump-no-bond-detention-policy-circuit-split. See also 2026-07-29–ice-issues-emergency-solicitation-5500-beds-four-cities.