Dan Weiss, former federal judge and Roy Petty and Associates special counsel gave his expertise in The Texas Lawbook about a significant February 2026 ruling by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. That ruling upheld a policy allowing for the mandatory, no-bond detention of noncitizens who entered the U.S. without inspection, covering individuals within Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi.  

The Buenrostro-Mendez v. Bondi decision reclassifies these individuals as “applicants for admission” under Section 235(b) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, a shift expected to impact approximately 15,000 immigrants by removing access to bond hearings.  

“If the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit goes one way and the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit goes another, with other courts already grappling with the same question, the Supreme Court of the United States is almost certainly going to have to step in to define the limits of the government’s mandatory detention power,” Weiss said. 

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