New York, NY—Yesterday, a federal court overruled a Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) case known as Matter of Yajure Hurtado, 29 I & N Dec. 216 (BIA 2025). For now, this federal court ruling restores immigrants' ability to ask an immigration judge for a bond hearing. Note that the court’s decision does not require an immigration judge to grant bond, only that the judge must hold a bond hearing.
Murad Awawdeh, President and CEO, New York Immigration Coalition:
“Every single person in this country has the right to due process. I applaud the federal court in this case for assuring that basic legal processes must continue. The Trump administration’s attempt to expand immigration detention by limiting those who can ask for bond hearings is dangerous and unlawful. The law is clear: immigrants have the right to ask for a bond hearing. Aggressive tactics like this one to deny basic hearings are designed to upend our legal system, while enforcement operations in courthouses, workplaces, and neighborhoods instill fear. The Trump administration must stop playing politics with people’s lives. Due process affects all people in this country, immigrants or not. Every American is paying for the cost of this administration’s single-minded pursuit of its deportation agenda.”
Background:
Yesterday, a federal court overruled a Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) case known as Matter of Yajure Hurtado, 29 I & N Dec. 216 (BIA 2025). The case involved a Venezuelan man who entered the United States without authorization and lived in the country for several years before ICE arrested him. An immigration judge denied his bond request based on new ICE legal arguments that said he was not eligible for bond. This created a new change that forced millions of immigrants to stay in detention while their cases moved through immigration courts.