The Fight

In summer 2025 the Trump administration reversed decades of practice by directing ICE to subject nearly everyone facing deportation to mandatory detention with no eligibility for bond — even long-term residents with no criminal record. The ACLU of Nevada, the ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project, and the UNLV Immigration Clinic challenged that policy in a class-action filed in late October 2025 (Jacobo-Ramirez v. Noem, Case No. 2:25-cv-02136, U.S. District Court, District of Nevada).

This is the most consequential Nevada detention development of spring 2026: the first time a class-action lawsuit in Nevada has overturned a DHS policy, and it directly throttles the intake side of Nevada’s jail-to-detention pipeline.

Key Details

Timeline:

• Late October 2025: ACLU NV / UNLV Immigration Clinic file the class action on behalf of named petitioners Victor Kalid Jacobo-Ramirez and Edgar Michel Guevara-Alcantar.
• March 26, 2026: U.S. District Judge Richard F. Boulware II grants partial summary judgment, finding DHS’s mandatory-detention policy unlawful and vacating it under the Administrative Procedure Act; also finds it violated federal law and the Fourth Amendment and caused “irreparable harm.” Class certified.
• March 31 / April 3, 2026: Order takes effect blocking the no-bail policy for the class; DHS issues a defiant statement (Apr 3) saying “ICE will continue to adhere to all court decisions until they are ultimately struck down by the highest court in the land.”
• By April 7, 2026: Notices to class members required to be posted; habeas forms required by April 14, 2026 — turning the ruling into visible changes inside detention centers.
• April 2026: After advocates learned 25 potential class members were scheduled for transfer out of Nevada, Boulware issued an emergency order temporarily blocking the transfers and directing federal officials to facilitate attorney access while the court reviews their cases.
• May 11, 2026: In court filings, federal officials acknowledged that many of the named detainees qualify as class members under the ruling.
• As of June 5, 2026: Enforcement litigation continues. No appellate reversal reported. Government has signaled it expects higher courts (ultimately SCOTUS) to back the mandatory-detention policy.

Scope of the class: Non-citizens who entered without inspection, are in removal proceedings, are detained in Nevada, and do not have prior removal orders. Reporting estimates the ruling could allow upward of 60 people per week in Nevada to seek release via bond hearings before an immigration judge.

Named parties / counsel:

• Judge: Richard F. Boulware II (D. Nev.)
• Plaintiffs: Victor Kalid Jacobo-Ramirez, Edgar Michel Guevara-Alcantar (class representatives)
• Counsel: ACLU of Nevada, ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project, UNLV Immigration Clinic
• Defendant: DHS Secretary (Noem at filing; succeeded by Markwayne Mullin after Noem’s March 5, 2026 firing)

Why It Matters

Nevada’s enforcement model funnels people through county jails and 287(g) handoffs into mandatory detention at Pahrump (Nevada Southern Detention Center). This ruling attacks the legal basis for holding most of that population without bond, and the transfer-block order specifically counters ICE’s tactic of moving detainees out of state (toward the SLC/Arizona “triangle”) to defeat local counsel access and class membership. It runs parallel to — but is distinct from — the ACLU’s separate state-court 287(g) challenge against LVMPD (see clark-county-nv-287g-aclu-challenge) and to the national bond-hearing circuit split (see bond-hearing-circuit-split-2026).

Sources

• Federal court rules in favor of ACLU of Nevada in major class action immigration lawsuit (ACLU NV)
• A Nevada judge ruled ICE can’t lock up everyone facing deportation. Here’s what it means. (Nevada Independent)
• A Nevada judge ruled ICE can’t lock up everyone facing deportation (Washington Post, Apr 3, 2026)
• Federal judge rules DHS mandatory detention policy violates federal law in Nevada case (News3LV)
• Federal court blocks transfer of immigrant detainees as ACLU of Nevada seeks enforcement of bond hearing ruling (ACLU NV)
• Federal judge stops immigrant detainees from being transferred out of Nevada (Nevada Current)
• Jacobo-Ramirez v. Noem 2:25-cv-02136 (D. Nev.) — Civil Rights Litigation Clearinghouse
• Nevada ACLU sues over Trump admin’s new mandatory detention policy (Nevada Independent)