US judge orders Trump administration to provide bond hearings to detained migrants

Source: Reuters

November 25, 2025 5:59 PM EST Updated 11 hours ago


Nov 25 - A federal judge on Tuesday ruled that President Donald Trump's administration cannot impose mandatory detention on thousands of migrants held by U.S. immigration authorities without first giving them an opportunity to seek release on bond.

U.S. District Judge Sunshine Sykes in Riverside, California, certified a nationwide class of individuals who were already living in the United States when they were detained and are legally entitled to a hearing to determine whether they can be released on bond while their deportation cases proceed.

Sykes ruled last week that the Trump administration's policy adopted in July of denying bond hearings to migrants detained during domestic enforcement operations in the U.S. was illegal, joining dozens of other federal judges. While those decisions involved individual migrants or small groups, Sykes on Tuesday extended her ruling nationwide. About 65,000 people were in immigration detention in the U.S. as of last week, according to government data.

The Trump administration has argued that individuals' differing circumstances required the issue to be reviewed on a case-by-case basis, but Sykes said that being deprived of the right to a bond hearing was an injury common to the class. "Such common injury can be resolved in a single stroke upon the determination that the new policy is in violation of (migrants') due process rights," wrote Sykes, an appointee of Democratic President Joe Biden.

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/us-judge-orders-trump-administration-provide-bond-hearings-detained-migrants-2025-11-25/