WASHINGTON

The Trump administration won a major legal victory Friday when the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that immigrants detained without formal admission to the United States have no constitutional right to bond hearings while awaiting deportation.

The full-panel decision in *Ignacio Sosnava Rodriguez v. Sylvester M. Ortega* found that three immigrant men held under federal mandatory-detention law lack a Fifth Amendment Due Process Clause right to a hearing. The court stated directly: "The Constitution does not entitle them to a bond hearing."

The ruling applies even when immigrants have lived in the country for years or decades and established community ties. Those factors, the court said, do not create a constitutional entitlement to a hearing.

The decision arrives as the Supreme Court prepares to hear *Rhoney v. Barbosa da Cunha* this term—a closely related case that will determine whether federal mandatory-detention law applies to longtime immigrants arrested inside the country. The *Rhoney* case, which originates from the Second Circuit, could reinforce the Fifth Circuit's holding or undercut it depending on how the justices rule.

At stake is a 9-2 circuit split among federal appeals courts over which detention law governs immigrants who entered illegally, were never formally admitted, and were arrested years later after establishing U.S. residence.

The Fifth and Eighth Circuits have held that these immigrants remain "applicants for admission" under Section 1225 of the Immigration and Nationality Act, making them subject to mandatory detention without a bond hearing during removal proceedings.

Nine other federal appeals courts have ruled that Section 1226 applies instead—a provision that gives these immigrants the right to seek release on bond.

The Supreme Court's decision will determine whether immigrants who entered without authorization and lived in the U.S. for years can be held under the same mandatory-detention rules that apply to people actively seeking admission.

The *Rhoney* case involves Barbosa da Cunha, a Brazilian national who entered the United States illegally, according to court documents.