Riverside, California - A federal judge in California has ruled that the Trump administration cannot impose mandatory detention on immigrants already living in the US without giving them an opportunity to seek release on bond.

The Department of Homeland Security in July implemented a policy denying bond hearings to detained immigrants who entered the US without inspection, no matter how long they have been living in the country or whether they have a criminal record.

US District Judge Sunshine Sykes last week joined dozens of federal judges in determining that policy to be illegal, but Tuesday's decision extends the ruling nationwide.

"Although it is possible that individuals may have differing charges of inadmissibility when they are arrested, the deprivation of their right to a bond hearing is a common injury. Such common injury can be resolved in a single stroke upon the determination that the new DHS policy is in violation of their due process rights," Sykes wrote.

The decision applies to noncitizens without lawful status who "have entered or will enter the United States without inspection" and who were not detained upon arrival.

After DHS instituted its new policy in July, immigrants' rights activists launched a lawsuit on behalf of four people detained at a California ICE facility. Sykes issued a temporary restraining order barring the Trump administration from continuing to detain the four individuals, at which point attorneys moved to seek broader class-action relief for all people affected by the policy.

Sykes' latest decision opens the door for thousands of people to potentially be released on bond as their immigration cases play out.

"A huge victory in court today which restores the law to what it was before July; that undocumented immigrants without criminal records who are going through removal proceedings have the right to ask an immigration judge to be released from detention on bond," Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, senior fellow at the American Immigration Council, posted on X.