Politico reports:

The appeals court dam is breaking against ICE’s unprecedented mass detention policy.

Two federal appeals courts on Thursday shot down the Trump administration’s bid to subject millions of immigrants — most of whom have lived in the U.S. for years without criminal records — to mandatory detention without bond.

In a pair of 2-1 decisions, the California-based 9th Circuit Court of Appeals and the Illinois-based 7th Circuit Court of Appeals found that the Trump administration had defied logic and misconstrued decades-old immigration laws to justify its expansive detention policy. Appeals courts have now split 6-2 against the administration as the issue hurtles toward the Supreme Court, while the overwhelming majority of lower-court judges have ruled against the administration as well.

“We add but a few more drops of ink to the gallons already spilled,” Judge Joshua Kolar, a Biden appointee, wrote for the 7th Circuit majority, joined by Candace Jackson-Akiwumi, another Biden appointee.

The ruling by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, authored by Trump appointee Daniel Bress, is the most significant rejection yet of the Trump administration’s unprecedented mass detention policy. It will bind lower courts along a large swath of the southern border and in states where thousands of ICE detainees are housed. [Continue reading…]