SerpApi.Org
The U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled late Tuesday that illegal aliens do not have the constitutional right to roam the nation during their removal proceedings.
The ruling, led by Chief Judge Jennifer Elrod, appointed by George W. Bush, overturned the lower court's decision granting bond hearings and releasing three illegal immigrants from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody, putting the lower court's orders on hold pending a full appeal. (RELATED: ICE Deports Illegal Alien Child Rapist Previously Pardoned By Gov Tim Walz)
The Department of Justice (DOJ) Civil Division's Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate said the decision makes clear that "illegal aliens do not have a constitutional right to roam free in the United States during their removal proceedings."
The lower court's February decision — approving the petition for a writ of habeas corpus — came after the petitioner, an illegal alien named Ignacio Sosnava Rodriguez, was arrested during a traffic stop in 2025.
Rodriguez, who had lived in Texas for 22 years, filed the petition while being held by ICE, arguing that detaining him without bond violates his Fifth Amendment due process rights.
The court, using the precedent of the three-factor test from Mathews v. Eldridge, determined that Rodriguez's petition was valid. However, the appeals court disagreed, denying Rodriguez's petition without the appeal needing to reach the court's full bench of judges.
Shumate said Tuesday's decision sets an "extraordinary precedential order" that will be used in similar cases going forward.
Similarly, the appeals court also stayed the petitions of two other illegal aliens, Alejandro Villegas Angel and Miguel Angel Gomez.
