Eligibility for bail in immigration cases It has been under intense scrutiny since early 2025, following attempts by the federal government to broadly deny bail hearings to undocumented immigrants.
For months, courts and legal defenders They questioned ICE policies that automatically classified people who entered the country without inspection as ineligible for bond hearings.
Last month, however, a federal district court took a key turn by declaring that policy illegal, reopening the possibility for these individuals to access a bail hearing.
Enlace Latino NC It explains how the immigration bond process works and what these changes mean for the immigrant community.
A bit of legal context
In July 2025, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced a new policy under which many immigrants who entered the country without inspection were detained. without the right to request a bond hearing before an immigration judge during their processes of deportation.
The guide, implemented by ICE, established that these individuals would be treated as “applicants for admission” and subject to mandatory detention without bail, even if they had lived in the United States for years.
Becca O'Neill, co-founder of the Carolina Migrant Network, told Enlace Latino NC that everything reached a critical point on September 5, 2025.
“That’s when the decision was made that, basically, anyone who entered without a visa, that is, without inspection, or undocumented people, was not eligible for a bond hearing,” he said.
“The case they are basing this on is a clear misinterpretation of the law, it makes no sense and it is a terrible decision that has affected thousands of people,” he added.
This led to the immigration lawyers to file habeas corpus petitions in federal district courts to obtain orders compelling immigration judges in individual cases to hold a bond hearing
Related: How to pay an immigration bond?
The legal battle over immigration bail
Following the September decision, “lawyers across the country have been fighting, and there was a group of lawyers in the West, in California, who filed a class-action lawsuit,” O’Neill said.
According to O'Neill, the strategy was to try to get a federal court to say, "No, this is wrong, and until we fix it, people should have bail hearings."
In November 2025, as a result of the case Maldonado Bautista vs. Santacruz Jr., A federal court in California ruled that this policy was illegal, allowing people in deportation proceedings who were denied bail in the past simply for entering the country without inspection to request a bail hearing again, at least under federal law.
“We all got excited thinking, 'Yes! We can have bail hearings again!'” O'Neill said.
“And believe it or not, immigration judges and DHS lawyers stated that the class action lawsuit did not extend beyond the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals,” he said.
This presented another obstacle and led immigration lawyers in California to continue fighting for another court to clarify the class action decision and have it recognized nationally.
December ruling clarifies national eligibility for bail
This clarification came in December 2025, a few days after we spoke with O'Neill on the phone, when another federal court in California He clarified again that all national “class members” are eligible for bail hearings.
This category includes undocumented immigrants who entered the country without inspection, were not arrested at the border and are not subject to mandatory detention for criminal records or other specific reasons.
“This decision means that, hopefully, immigration judges will begin holding bond hearings without habeas corpus petitions first,” O’Neill said.
Related>> Immigration Court Hearings by Video Call: Who Can Request It and How to Do It
What happens now?
Prior to the clarification, O'Neill commented that this has been a truly difficult legal battle and that he "hoped it would be resolved soon so that people would not be forced to remain detained or give up their case."
Following the December decision, there is now a legal basis that opens the door for bail hearings to be held for undocumented immigrants, without habeas corpus petitions.
“This order is crucial to responding to the misinformation that immigration judges across the country have relied on to justify denying bond hearings,” said Matt Adams, legal director of NWIRP, in a ACLU press release.
“This makes it clear that the law requires that bail hearings be granted to members of our class action lawsuit so they can return to their families, homes, and jobs.”
If you need legal help/consultation regarding your immigration case, or have specific questions regarding your status and bond eligibility, Carolina Migrant Network continues to offer legal assistance. Call (704) 740-7737.
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