The Rules on Bond Changed Again. Let Me Catch You Up.

Arzoo Connor • March 19, 2026

I saw it too. Here is what it means for your family.

My phone started going before I had coffee. Clients sending me screenshots, family members asking what changed, people panicking over something they read online.

So let me just talk through it.

The first thing you need to know is that there is no single answer right now to whether someone can get a bond. I know that is not what you want to hear. But the answer genuinely depends on one thing more than anything else.

How did the person enter the United States?

That question changes everything. Let me walk through the three situations I am seeing.

Came in on a Visa and Overstayed

This is the most straightforward situation right now.

If someone came in legally -- on a visa, through an airport, through an official crossing -- and stayed past when they were supposed to leave, the current legal fight is not about them. Immigration judges still have the authority to hold a bond hearing for people in this situation. That has not changed.

If someone in this situation is being denied a bond hearing, that is worth fighting. But the chaos you are reading about in the news is happening in a different category. This is not it.

Was Stopped at the Border or Used CBP One

This one is hard. And it has been hard for longer than the current administration has been in office.

When someone shows up at the border -- whether they walked up to a port of entry, had a CBP One appointment, or were stopped by agents at the border -- immigration law treats them as an arriving alien. Arriving aliens have not been able to go in front of an immigration judge and ask for a bond for decades. That is not new.

What is new is the backup. Before all of this, ICE could use something called parole to release someone even without a bond hearing. It was not a guarantee but it existed. That option has almost completely dried up. The numbers show it dropped about 98 percent in the past year.

I will be straight with you. This is the hardest group to help right now. There are still legal arguments to make and I make them. But I am not going to tell you it is easy because it is not.

Crossed Without Papers and Was Never Caught at the Border

This is where most of what you are reading about is happening.

Think about the person who crossed years ago, never went through any official process, and has been living here ever since. Until last year, that person -- if they got picked up by ICE -- had the right to go in front of an immigration judge and ask to be released while their case was pending. The judge would look at how long they had been here, their family, their record. That process existed for thirty years.

In July 2025 the government said it was done with that. They started arguing that it did not matter how long someone had been here -- if they crossed without papers, they should be locked up with no bond hearing, period. The Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) agreed with them in September 2025.

That is when things exploded.

The Two Cases You Keep Seeing in the News

Buenrostro-Mendez v. Bondi. This is the Fifth Circuit case. On February 6, 2026, the appeals court that covers Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi ruled 2 to 1 that the government is right. If you crossed without papers, you can be held with no bond hearing. That ruling controls what happens right now in those three states.

Maldonado Bautista v. DHS. This is the California case. A federal judge there ruled the opposite -- that people who crossed without papers and were not caught at the border have the right to a bond hearing. She vacated the BIA ruling. She called the government's conduct shameless. She said they crossed the boundaries of constitutional conduct.

Two courts. Two completely opposite answers.

The government ignored the California ruling. Immigration judges were told by the Chief Immigration Judge to keep following the Fifth Circuit and keep denying bond hearings.

Then on March 6, 2026 the Ninth Circuit -- the appeals court above the California judge -- put her orders on pause everywhere except in California itself, while they heard the appeal.

So here is the map right now.

Where Things Actually Stand This Week

Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi: The Fifth Circuit ruling controls. If someone crossed without papers, there is no bond hearing available through immigration court. The main option is filing directly in federal court -- what is called a habeas corpus petition -- challenging whether the detention itself is legal. Some of those are winning. But you need an attorney and you need to move fast.

California: specifically the Central District: The California judge's orders still apply there because the appeals court pause did not cover the court where the case originated. Bond hearings are available for people in that district who qualify under the class.

Everywhere else: It is genuinely unsettled. The California class protection is paused outside California. Different courts in different parts of the country are going different directions. More than 300 federal judges have ruled against the government's position on this. About 14 have ruled in favor. The legal weight is clearly on one side. But whether that translates to your family member getting out depends on which court they are in front of and what arguments their attorney makes.

The Thing That Is Not Making the Headlines

I want to say this clearly because I do not see enough people talking about it.

Courts have been ordering bond hearings and the government has been refusing to hold them.

A judge in Minnesota had to schedule an in-person contempt hearing for the acting director of ICE after the government just did not follow his order. They released the person right before the hearing to avoid it. But that same judge attached a list to his order. At least 96 court orders in 74 separate cases that the government had violated since January 1st of this year.

When families see a headline that says a court ruled immigrants are entitled to bond hearings, they think that means their person is getting out. It does not work that way. There is a gap between what courts say and what the government is actually doing, and right now that gap is bigger than anything I have seen in my career.

Knowing the law is one part of the job. Knowing which courts are actually enforcing their orders, which judges are holding the line, and how to move fast enough to matter before an ICE transfer -- that is the other part. That is what my office is doing right now.

What to Do If Someone You Know Was Just Detained

Call an attorney today. Not this week. Today.

ICE moves people fast. Someone sitting in a facility in a state where bond options exist can be transferred to Texas, Louisiana, or Mississippi within a day or two. Once that happens, the legal options change. A filing made before the transfer can sometimes stop it. After it happens, you are dealing with the Fifth Circuit's rules.

Before you call, pull together what you know: their full legal name, their A number if you have any immigration documents lying around, where they are being held, and when they were picked up. That is enough to start.

And please -- do not make decisions based on what you are reading in community groups or seeing shared on social media. I know people post that stuff because they are trying to help and their hearts are in the right place. But this law is changing faster than any post can keep up with. What was true two weeks ago may not be true today. What is true in New York is not true in Texas.

Come in and let us look at what is actually happening in your specific case.

Consultations are $50. We are tracking this every single week so you do not have to.

Key Takeaways

Whether someone can get a bond right now depends almost entirely on how they entered the country. People who came in legally and overstayed are still bond-eligible. People stopped at the border face the hardest situation with almost no release options. People who crossed without papers and were not caught at the border are in the middle of active litigation with different rules in different states.

In Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi, the Fifth Circuit ruled in Buenrostro-Mendez v. Bondi that bond hearings are not available for people who crossed without papers. Federal habeas corpus petitions filed in district court are the main remaining tool. The Maldonado Bautista class action still protects bond eligibility in the Central District of California. Everywhere else is unsettled as of March 2026.

Even where courts have ordered bond hearings, the government has refused to comply in documented cases. If someone in your family was detained, call an immigration attorney immediately. ICE transfers people fast and the legal options change based on where someone is held.

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His Record Was Expunged. He Thought He Was Fine. He Wasn't.

By Arzoo Connor • March 4, 2026

I've had this conversation more times than I can count. Someone comes in, stressed, and walks me through their situation. They had a run-in with the law a couple of years back. Nothing major, they say. They hired a criminal attorney, took a plea deal, got the records expunged. Their attorney told them they were good. Their family told them they were good. They even found someone in a Facebook group who went through the same thing and came out fine. So they moved on. Until a green card application came up, or a renewal, or a petition for a family member. Now they're sitting across from me. And I have to tell them the thing nobody told them before: expungement means nothing in immigration court. The look is always the same. Disbelief, then the slow weight of what that actually means. Two Systems. Two Very Different Rules. Here's what a lot of people don't know, and honestly, what a lot of criminal attorneys don't fully think about either. The criminal justice system and the immigration system are separate. Completely. What fixes your record in one does not fix it in the other. When a criminal record gets expunged, the state is saying it didn't happen. You can say no on job applications. It won't show on most background checks. That matters and it's a real relief. But immigration law runs on federal rules. And under those rules, that arrest, that plea, that conviction it still happened. USCIS can see it. An immigration judge can weigh it. Depending on the charge, it can affect a visa application, a green card, even whether someone ends up in removal proceedings. It is not a technicality. It is just how these two systems work. And not knowing it can cost someone everything. The Case I Keep Thinking About I'll walk you through a real situation. Details are changed, but the facts are ones I see all the time. A client came to me after being arrested a few years earlier for possession of a weapon. Not a U.S. citizen. His criminal attorney was good, got him a plea deal, record got expunged. Case closed. Nobody brought in an immigration attorney because from the criminal side, there was nothing left to do. Then he went to apply for his green card. That charge came up. And because of how immigration law handles weapons offenses, it created a real problem. One that would have been a lot easier to deal with, maybe even avoidable, if I had been in the room before he signed that plea. This is something I want people to hear: I work with criminal attorneys regularly . When I get involved before a plea is entered, we can sometimes push for a lower charge, or frame the plea in a way that does less damage on the immigration side. Not every time. But enough times that it matters. And that difference is someone staying here with their kids or not. Once the plea is signed, the options get a lot harder. You work with what's there. Why This Keeps Happening I'm not blaming criminal attorneys. Most of them are good at their job. But immigration law moves fast, the rules keep changing, and it is hard to track unless it is all you do. They are focused on the criminal case. That is what they should be focused on. The problem is nobody thinks to ask. When you're scared and just arrested, you call a criminal attorney. That is the right move. But if you are not a U.S. citizen, you need to tell that attorney immediately. And a good criminal attorney, when they hear that, should call someone like me before advising you on any deal. Then there is social media. I cannot tell you how many people come in after reading a post from someone who swears their expungement cleared everything for immigration too. Maybe that person's charge was different. Maybe their status was different. Maybe they just got lucky and don't know it yet. Immigration cases are not the same. What worked for one person can absolutely wreck another. What to Do If This Sounds Familiar If you are not a U.S. citizen and you have a criminal record, even something minor, even something expunged, even something dismissed, talk to an immigration attorney before you file anything. Don't assume it was taken care of. Find out for sure. If you are dealing with criminal charges right now, tell your criminal attorney you have immigration concerns. Ask them to get on the phone with an immigration attorney before you accept any deal. Any attorney who takes their job seriously will do that without hesitation. And if someone in a group chat or a comment thread told you your expungement fixed your immigration situation, please don't treat that as legal advice. Come in and let us actually look at your case. One Conversation Can Change a Lot I do this work because it is personal to me. My family came here in 1996. I became a citizen in the middle of my first year of law school. Everyone in my office has been through their own version of this process. We know what is actually at stake for the people who sit across from us. My consultations run 45 minutes to 1 hour. I go through every option, what it costs, what the timeline looks like, what the risks are. If I can't help you, I will tell you straight and explain why. I turn people away regularly. But at least they leave knowing exactly where they stand. It costs $50 to come in. If you have a criminal matter in your past and an immigration case anywhere in your future, that is a conversation worth having now , not when something has already gone wrong. Ready to talk? Call ARC Legal Services (469) 200-0158 or reach out online. We respond the same day.