Trump Judges Just Can’t Stop Ruling Against His Signature Policy

Hundreds of federal judges have blocked Donald Trump’s mass detention policy targeting immigrants facing deportation, including some 20 judges appointed by the president himself, as rulings pile up in U.S. courts.

Following the Trump administration’s July 8 reform of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) policy, which eliminated bail hearings for most detained immigrants, emergency appeals have been filed across the country.

These appeals come from people who have spent years, even decades, in the United States without a criminal record, seeking asylum or other legal status, and who have been arrested at their workplaces, in court, and during routine traffic stops.

In more than 700 cases, at least 225 federal judges ruled that the reform was likely illegal and violated due process rights, including 23 judges appointed by Trump and 79 by the president, according to Politico.

In at least 35 states, judges expressed dismay at the government’s attempt to treat longtime U.S. residents as if they were still “applying for entry,” subjecting them to mandatory detention previously reserved for new arrivals—a break from a practice that had been in place for three decades.

Before July 8, most people facing deportation proceedings remained free while their cases were reviewed by immigration courts, an executive branch system that routinely set bail.

One judge likened this logic to believing a burglar is still outside a movie theater—an interpretation rejected by dozens of courts as absurd.

U.S. District Judge Christina Snyder, a Clinton appointee, joined the chorus of criticism of the policy, writing on November 21: “The court is unable to cope with the influx of new cases… given the current surge in litigation.”

In Michigan, Trump appointee Hala Jarbou described more than 100 individual petitions reaching the courts before 97 other detainees filed a class-action lawsuit seeking their release, illustrating the scale of the problem.

In Idaho, Clinton appointee District Judge Lynn Wenmel wrote that “dozens of district courts across the country—and that number is growing every day—have rejected the Department of Homeland Security’s expansion of mandatory detention,” which led to the release of 17 people arrested in an October 19 raid, according to Politico.

A more general easing of restrictions is now taking shape. Federal judges in Massachusetts and Colorado have approved class-action lawsuits, while a California judge approved a nationwide class-action lawsuit that could compel bail hearings for those detained under the July policy, according to a Politico analysis.

The Fifth and Eighth Circuit Courts of Appeals are under pressure to act quickly. Meanwhile, the administration has insisted on longer delays elsewhere, leading to scheduling conflicts and the possibility of a swift appeal to the Supreme Court.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which oversees Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and is the agency responsible for immigration in the United States, is maintaining its position on enforcing the law.

Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told Politico, “President Trump and the Secretary Noem are now enforcing this law because it was put in place to keep Americans safe.”