A federal court in Boston has opened the door for thousands of detained migrants in New England to unite in their legal fight against a policy that strips them of the right to seek release on bond.
The class-action ruling, delivered by U.S. District Judge Patti Saris, challenges the Trump administration’s interpretation of immigration law that has kept numerous noncitizens locked up without a hearing. The court found that the government’s stance—claiming authority to automatically detain anyone who entered the country without inspection—was legally questionable.
Judge Saris had earlier intervened on behalf of Jose Arnulfo Guerrero Orellana, a Salvadoran resident living in Massachusetts with his wife and infant daughter. He was taken into custody by immigration authorities during a routine traffic stop. The court ordered that Orellana must be released unless granted a bond hearing, rejecting the government’s argument that his detention was mandatory.
Following that decision, attorneys with the ACLU of Massachusetts pushed to expand the case, arguing that many others across Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island were facing the same unlawful detention. Judge Saris agreed, noting that all affected detainees share a “common question capable of classwide resolution.”
The decision marks the second time a U.S. court has recognized such a class of migrants denied bond hearings, signaling growing judicial resistance to the administration’s detention policies.
Immigrant advocates hailed the ruling as a turning point. They say the policy has quietly spread from immigration courts in Washington state to other regions, effectively transforming discretionary detentions into indefinite ones.
A hearing is set for Monday, where the ACLU is expected to seek a formal declaration that the policy violates federal law and the due process rights of the detainees.
The Justice Department has yet to respond publicly to the ruling.
The case—Guerrero Orellana v. Moniz—now stands as a major test of how far the federal government can go in curbing migrants’ access to judicial review while detention policies grow increasingly rigid.
