1. United States
2. Calif.
3. Letter

I write with grave concern about the Fifth Circuit's recent ruling redefining millions of long-term U.S. residents as if they were newly "arriving" at the border, stripping them of bond hearings and subjecting them to indefinite mandatory detention during removal proceedings. This interpretation—rejected by more than 150 federal judges across ideological lines—does not merely expand immigration enforcement. It transforms it into a system of mass incarceration without trial. The danger is immediate. Because habeas petitions must be filed where a person is physically detained, ICE now has incentive to rush detainees into Fifth Circuit states before lawyers can intervene. Once transferred, individuals may never get the chance to request release on bond, regardless of family ties, length of residence, or lack of criminal history. This is not hypothetical. DHS is already purchasing enormous warehouse facilities for conversion into detention centers capable of holding thousands. Combined with this ruling, these purchases point to a deliberate strategy: detain first, sort out legality later—if ever. The ruling also amplifies unconstitutional policing. With the Supreme Court's recent greenlighting of so-called "Kavanaugh stops," ICE officers already face incentives to detain people based on racial profiling. Now, if such a stop "gets lucky," detention becomes effectively permanent—a perverse reward structure that invites abuse. Congress never intended this. When lawmakers debated mandatory detention in 1996, they explicitly worried that detaining even 45,000 people would overwhelm the system. The claim that Congress secretly mandated detaining millions—without bond or hearings—defies statutory text, legislative history, and decades of settled practice. While this ruling may be reversed on appeal, the damage is happening now. Congress cannot wait for courts to clean up the mess. With DHS funding on the line, you have both the authority and obligation to act. I urge 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. This is not partisan. It is about whether the United States will tolerate mass incarceration without due process. Draw that line now.