In Washington state, four immigration judges initiated a significant shift in immigration enforcement years before a broader national change occurred. Cases of denying bond for those charged with immigration violations have since sparked tens of thousands of lawsuits alleging constitutional violations due to unlawful detention.
Earlier this month, the Trump administration faced a legal defeat when an appeals court overruled its policy on this matter. Two other courts had previously sided with the administration, paving the way for a potential Supreme Court review.
This approach to denying bond started years ago in Tacoma at the Northwest ICE Processing Center. There, judges began refusing bond in the early years of the decade. Initially, this move was largely unnoticed outside the circle of immigration attorneys there. When the Trump administration adopted this practice last year, it reflected the logic of the Tacoma judges. They believed Congress had not granted them the authority to issue bonds.
Neil Floyd, one of the Tacoma judges, commented on how their clerks researched the issue for six months before concluding that Congress had not authorized bond grants. “We concluded to act collectively because the decision was too significant for any one of us to undertake alone,” Floyd explained. He later became the top federal prosecutor in Seattle during Trump’s second term.
The judges relied on a 1996 law stating that “applicants for admission” to the U.S. must be detained. Historically, this law was interpreted to apply to those recently crossing the border without permission. People who had been living in the U.S. for years were treated under different legislation that allowed for bond hearings.
Among these judges were Theresa Scala, John Odell, Tammy Fitting, and Neil Floyd. They had each previously worked as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement attorneys and noted that they granted asylum at rates slightly above the national average.
Neil Floyd remarked, “The legal interpretation was based on fairness according to the law. If you enter the U.S. legally, it’s clear that you are detained until a decision on asylum is made.” This legal perspective left immigration lawyers in Tacoma looking for similar cases nationwide, but they found none.
Matt Adams, a lawyer at the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, viewed the judges’ stance as a “blatantly prosecutorial push to keep people detained.” Adams’ organization has initiated a lawsuit contesting this practice, though it has not yet gone to trial. Filed in 2025, the lawsuit alleges that the judges overlooked longstanding precedents.
The Justice Department’s Executive Office for Immigration Review has not addressed requests for comments on the matter. In July, ICE made an announcement aligning with the Tacoma judges’ reasoning, stating that immigrants present in the U.S. for years are considered “applicants for admission” if they entered illegally. The Justice Department’s Board of Immigration Appeals supported ICE’s stance that such individuals should not be granted bond hearings.
The ICE detainee numbers doubled last year, reaching around 75,000 in January. The agency is planning to expand its capacity to 92,300 beds by using large warehouses, termed “megacenters.” Judges indicate that extensive ICE raids have increased strain on the system.
Due to this change, around 2 million immigrants, previously eligible for bond, now face mandatory detention if apprehended. According to an AP tally, there have been over 40,000 lawsuits filed by detainees since Trump’s return to office 16 months ago.
Despite the administration’s position, many immigrants have won court rulings in their favor. Some federal judges have ordered immediate release, while others have returned cases to immigration courts for bond hearings.
One such case involves Victor Cruz, a handyman from Portland, Oregon, who spent 24 days in a Tacoma detention center. ICE arrested him without a warrant, after which an immigration judge granted him a bond hearing. Cruz was released in October and won his immigration case in February. At 56, he has U.S. citizens in his family and often plays with his grandchildren. Cruz maintains a folder in his car with his immigration paperwork, worried about the possibility of detention again. He recalls meeting detainees at Tacoma who had been held for six to nine months.
On a recent Friday in Tacoma, Judge Tammy Fitting, one of the initial group of judges, conducted bond hearings as mandated by a federal judge. She refused bond to an Oregon dishwasher with a past DUI conviction but permitted a $14,000 bond for another immigrant with no criminal history, noting the uncertainty of his path to legal status.
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Attanasio is a former Associated Press reporter.