The First Circuit grilled DOJ over mandatory immigration detention without bond hearings, deepening a circuit split that may reach the Supreme Court by October 2026.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit heard oral arguments May 4 in *Guerrero Orellana v. Moniz*, a case challenging the government's authority to hold noncitizens in mandatory immigration detention without a bond hearing [1]. Judges pressed Department of Justice attorneys with pointed questions, signaling skepticism toward the government's position [1]. The First Circuit becomes one of the last major regional circuits to weigh in on an issue that has fractured federal appellate courts across the country [1].
The case arises from a habeas corpus challenge to the prolonged detention of a noncitizen under statutes that the government reads to bar individualized bond hearings entirely [1]. The First Circuit, sitting in Boston, has not previously issued a definitive ruling on the question, making this oral argument a significant procedural milestone [1]. The DOJ defended mandatory detention as a lawful exercise of Congress's plenary power over immigration, while the panel pushed back with questions mirroring the skepticism displayed by courts in other circuits [1].
The substantive stakes track a deepening circuit split. The Second, Sixth, and Eleventh Circuits have each heard challenges on related grounds, with panels in multiple courts expressing doubt about the constitutionality or statutory basis for denying bond hearings to long-detained noncitizens [1]. The core dispute centers on whether due process requires an individualized hearing before the government may continue to detain a person for an extended period, regardless of the categorical detention statutes Congress enacted [1]. That question implicates thousands of detainees held by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement at any given time.
With the First Circuit now deliberating, the Third Circuit was scheduled to hear oral arguments on the same issue May 11, potentially making it the final major circuit to join the debate [1]. The accumulation of circuit-level rulings, some favoring detainees and others upholding mandatory detention, creates the kind of entrenched disagreement that typically draws Supreme Court review [1]. Legal observers expect the Court to consider granting certiorari during its October 2026 term, at which point a single nationwide rule would resolve the conflict [1].