What is actually happening with ICE detention, raids, immigration bond, and the courts, with a focus on New York, New Jersey, and Florida. We track this so families do not have to. If something here affects your loved one, call us.
Federal appeals courts are divided over the government's policy of holding many immigrants with no chance to ask a judge for release on bond. The courts covering New York (Second Circuit, April 28), Florida (Eleventh Circuit, May 6), and the Midwest (Sixth Circuit, May 11) have all struck the policy down. The Fifth and Eighth Circuits have upheld it. With the courts split, the question is widely expected to reach the Supreme Court.
What this means for your family: where your loved one is held can decide whether they can ask for a bond hearing today. In the Second and Eleventh Circuits the door is open right now, but the rules can change once the Supreme Court steps in. We move quickly to request a hearing, or file a habeas petition, while the law favors release.
Sources: The Marshall Project, May 20, 2026 · Stateline, May 12, 2026 · The Washington Post
In 2025 the Board of Immigration Appeals, the body that sets the rules immigration judges follow, ruled in Matter of Yajure-Hurtado that judges cannot set bond for many people who entered the country without inspection, even those who have lived here for decades. Federal appeals courts are now divided on whether that reading of the law is correct. This single ruling is the reason so many bond hearings stopped.
The Fifth Circuit, which covers Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas, ruled February 6, 2026 in Buenrostro-Mendez v. Bondi that the government may detain certain immigrants without offering a bond hearing. The Eighth Circuit reached the same conclusion March 26, 2026 in Herrera Avila v. Bondi. Both decisions were 2 to 1. Where your loved one is held still decides whether a bond hearing is available today.
The Second Circuit, which covers New York, ruled in Cunha v. Freden that the government cannot jail many immigrants with no chance to seek bond. The decision was unanimous and written by a judge appointed by President Trump.
The First Circuit (Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island) heard oral argument on May 4, 2026. The Third Circuit, which covers New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware, heard argument on May 11, 2026. Decisions are still pending. If either or both join the Second, Sixth, and Eleventh Circuits in rejecting the no-bond policy, the pro-hearing side of the circuit split will keep growing.
The Eleventh Circuit, which covers Florida, held in Hernandez Alvarez v. Warden, FDC Miami that people who entered the country without inspection are entitled to a bond hearing before an immigration judge, instead of being held with no hearing at all.
The Sixth Circuit held in Lopez-Campos v. Raycraft that jailing certain long-term residents with no individual bond hearing violates due process, and that the government cannot detain them indefinitely based only on how they entered the country.
A running count of federal district-court rulings published in early May 2026 found that 420 trial judges have rejected the government's no-bond policy in habeas cases, while 47 have upheld it. The pattern at the trial level is consistent: when an immigrant files a habeas petition in a district that has not already ruled the other way, the odds heavily favor a bond hearing or outright release.
A review of about 160 resolved habeas cases in four states found that nearly all of them led to a bond hearing or to release. More than 45,000 such petitions have now been filed nationwide. A habeas petition is one of the main tools we use to challenge an unlawful detention.
A look at a large enforcement surge in Charlotte found that the raids kept workers and shoppers home for weeks, with measurable harm to local businesses long after the operation ended.
Despite messaging about targeting serious offenders, reporting shows ICE continues to arrest large numbers of people with no criminal record at all.
ICE grew from around 10,000 officers and agents to more than 22,000 during a 2026 hiring surge, a jump that is driving more arrests nationwide.
A federal judge in Manhattan ordered ICE to stop arresting most immigrants inside the city's three immigration courthouses, including 26 Federal Plaza and 201 Varick Street, except in limited safety situations.
An investigation found that medical teams at several ICE centers were short staffed even as the number of people held climbed, and that poor care contributed to deaths in more than a dozen cases.
ICE has reported its eighteenth detainee death in the first four months of the year, putting the agency on pace to pass last year's two-decade high.
Records showed the Krome center near Miami used physical force on detainees more than any other facility, including restraint chairs, before ICE stopped publishing the details.
A state investigation reported six deaths in detention over the past year and found populations far above planned limits, with sites struggling to provide basic medical care.
A hunger and labor strike by people held at the Delaney Hall center in Newark continued, with families and protesters blocking a transfer van. New Jersey's governor said she has asked ICE for access to the facility, citing reports of poor conditions.
A planned ICE facility at a Roxbury warehouse was put on hold for an environmental review after the state and township pushed back. Federal lawyers have said ICE wants the site to hold people with New York City cases.
New Jersey moved to bar local law enforcement from partnering with federal immigration authorities. The state's detention sites include Delaney Hall in Newark and the Elizabeth facility.
A day after the courthouse arrest ban, a man was detained after his hearing at 26 Federal Plaza. Lawyers quickly filed a habeas petition and he was released from ICE custody. Fast legal action can make the difference.
Bond and habeas deadlines move faster than the headlines. We answer the phone 24 hours a day, every day, and offer a free assessment of your loved one's case.
This page is a plain-language news summary gathered from the public reporting linked above and is updated periodically. It is general information, not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Laws and court rulings on immigration detention are changing quickly and can differ by location; for advice about a specific person, contact the firm.