1. United States
2. Wash.
3. Letter

Late Friday night, a divided panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit handed the Trump administration a legal pretext to detain vast numbers of immigrants indefinitely, without bond, and without hearings. In a rushed decision, two judges adopted an extreme interpretation of a 1996 immigration statute that more than 150 federal judges—across ideological lines and across the country—have already rejected. That interpretation redefines millions of people who have long lived in the United States as if they were newly “arriving” at the border. Now, what was once framed as a deportation policy becomes a system of preventive detention—mass incarceration without trial. The danger is immediate. Because habeas petitions must be filed in the jurisdiction where a person is physically detained, ICE now has a powerful incentive to rush detainees into Texas, Louisiana, or Mississippi—states covered by the Fifth Circuit—before lawyers can even file on their behalf. Once transferred, a person may never get the chance to ask for release on bond, regardless of family ties, length of residence, or lack of criminal history. Congress never intended this outcome. The claim that Congress secretly mandated the detention of millions—without bond and without hearings—defies statutory text, legislative history, and decades of settled practice. While this ruling may yet be reversed on appeal, the damage it enables is happening now. Congress cannot wait for the courts. With DHS funding on the line, lawmakers have both the authority and the obligation to act. I ask you to condition DHS funding on compliance with constitutional norms, restore access to bond hearings, prohibit mass transfers designed to evade judicial review, and reassert Congress’s role in setting humane, lawful immigration policy. We, as a nation, cannot tolerate mass incarceration without due process. Congress must draw that line now.