A divided U.S. appeals court has ruled that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) cannot detain individuals for more than 90 days under the Trump administration’s mass detention policy without providing them an opportunity to be released on bond. The ruling on Thursday by a 2-1 panel of the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals could impact thousands of individuals detained in states within its jurisdiction, including Texas and Louisiana, as part of President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement efforts.

Previously, a different panel of the same court had supported the Trump administration’s interpretation of a federal immigration statute, which allowed for the mandatory detention of non-citizens residing in the United States. However, that earlier ruling did not address whether the U.S. Constitution’s Fifth Amendment due process clause mandates that these migrants be given a chance to seek release through a bond hearing before an immigration judge.

Writing for the majority, U.S. Circuit Judge Leslie Southwick stated that the U.S. Supreme Court had made clear in 2001 that the due process clause protects all individuals, including the two Mexican citizens and one Honduran whose cases were before the 5th Circuit. Southwick, appointed by President George W. Bush, wrote that the Constitution "makes no exceptions in providing basic rights to those within our boundaries, including a right to be heard when personal liberty is taken."

U.S. Circuit Judge Cory Wilson, appointed by President Trump, dissented, arguing that the majority decision "marginalizes the Constitution’s express grant of plenary authority over immigration matters to Congress."

Rebecca Cassler, an attorney for the migrants from the American Immigration Council, expressed satisfaction with the ruling, stating in a release that the panel recognized "the core constitutional principle that the due process clause does not allow the government to lock them away indefinitely."

The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Under existing federal immigration law, individuals considered "applicants for admission" to the United States are subject to mandatory detention while their cases are processed in immigration courts and are typically ineligible for bond hearings. Last year, the Department of Homeland Security adopted a position that challenged a long-standing interpretation of immigration law, asserting that non-citizens already living in the U.S. could also qualify as "applicants for admission" subject to mandatory detention.

The Board of Immigration Appeals, part of the Justice Department, issued a decision in September adopting this new interpretation, leading immigration judges nationwide to begin ordering mandatory detentions. Federal appeals courts have reached differing conclusions on the legality of this interpretation, prompting the Trump administration to ask the Supreme Court last week to settle the dispute.