A federal appeals court has struck down a Trump administration policy requiring mass detention of migrants without the possibility of bond, with the majority opinion drawing a striking parallel to the internment of Japanese Americans during the Second World War. The 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 against the measure, which forms a central part of President Trump's mass deportation agenda, warning that detaining marginalised people without due process "harkens back to some of the darkest moments in our country's history." The ruling adds to mounting judicial resistance to the policy and increases the likelihood that the Supreme Court will ultimately have to settle the matter.

Nine federal appeals courts have now found ICE's mandatory detention policy, introduced in July 2025, to be unlawful when applied to migrants living elsewhere in the country rather than those recently arrived near the border, while two other courts have upheld it. Writing for the majority, Judge Nicole Berner invoked the wartime internment as a caution against unchecked executive detention power, while the ACLU welcomed the decision as a rejection of a "cruel policy." The Department of Homeland Security expressed disappointment, pointing to a pending Supreme Court review of a similar Sixth Circuit ruling and defending the policy as lawful enforcement.