Leaked Memo: ICE To Block Bond Hearings for Millions of Undocumented Immigrants. Detentions To Skyrocket.

An internal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) memo sent on July 8 “declared that immigrants who arrived in the United States illegally are no longer eligible for a bond hearing as they fight deportation proceedings in court,” The Washington Post reported on Monday. The new policy means millions of undocumented immigrants may be detained by ICE, potentially for years, as they await a resolution to their immigration case. 

In the memo reviewed by the Post, Todd M. Lyons, acting director of ICE, directed officers to detain immigrants who entered illegally “for the duration of their removal proceedings.” The policy change will significantly impact immigrants currently living in the United States who have been historically allowed to request a bond hearing before an immigration judge if detained by ICE. “Lyons wrote that the Trump administration’s departments of Homeland Security and Justice had ‘revisited its legal position on detention and release authorities’ and determined that such immigrants ‘may not be released from ICE custody,’” according to the Post. Only in rare exceptions may immigrants be released on parole, a determination that will be left “up to an immigration officer, not a judge.”

“This is their way of putting in place nationwide a method of detaining even more people…without any real review of their individual circumstances,” Greg Chen, senior director of government relations for the American Immigration Lawyers Association, told the Post. Since taking office, President Donald Trump has not been shy about wanting to increase immigrant detention numbers. The administration has experimented with controversial methods of detaining immigrants in both state-run detention facilities, like Florida’s Alligator Alcatraz, and other countries, like El Salvador, to meet Trump’s deportation goals. 

“Detention is absolutely the best way to approach [immigration], if you can do it. It costs a lot of money, obviously,” Mark Krikorian, executive director for the Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates for fewer immigrants, told the Post. The cost of detention is not lost on Trump, who recently signed legislation appropriating $45 billion to nearly double the country’s detention capacity to 100,000 beds. “You’re pretty much guaranteed to be able to remove the person, if there’s a negative finding, if he’s in detention,” Krikorian added. 

Until recently, ICE detained immigrants only “when necessary” and in FY 2024 had over 7.6 million noncitizens on its nondetained docket. Under the Immigration and Nationality Act, ICE must detain immigrants without bond if they are convicted of certain crimes, including certain drug crimes, aggravated felonies, and terrorist activity. The Laken Riley Act, passed by Congress earlier this year, added charges for theft-related crimes to the list. According to ICE’s detention policies, anyone deemed “a public safety or flight risk during the custody determination process” could also be held in detention and not released. 

But under the direction of Lyons, millions more undocumented immigrants who pose no threat to public safety will be held in custody awaiting immigration proceedings—a process that can take months or even years due to court backlogs. The new policy is expected, even by Lyons himself, to face legal challenges over immigrants’ rights. 

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