Judge Sunshine Sykes Tries to Put the Border on a Leash, and the Swamp Howls in Harmony

I could smell it before I finished the first paragraph: fresh-cut paper, hot off a courthouse printer. Not brisket smoke. Not freedom smoke. Bureaucrat smoke. And this week, the robe-and-gavel crowd in Riverside, California cranked it up like a fog machine at a bad concert.

What happened (per AP and Reuters)

Late Wednesday, February 18, 2026, U.S. District Judge Sunshine Sykes, a Biden-appointed federal judge in Riverside, issued a sharply worded decision aimed at how the Trump administration is detaining people during deportation efforts.

AP and Reuters report that Sykes accused the administration of terrorizing immigrants and violating the law, then ordered the Department of Homeland Security to take steps that increase detainees’ access to bond information and attorneys.

The ordered changes include:

• Providing notice that some detainees may be eligible for bond
• Requiring access to a phone to contact an attorney within an hour

She also vacated a Board of Immigration Appeals decision the administration had been relying on. And she threw out a September immigration court ruling the administration cited to keep a mandatory detention policy going.

The Riverside Robe Show: one pen, one big speed bump

Here is the F-150 translation: the administration says it is enforcing the law and detaining people it believes it can detain while cases move. The judge says the policy is unlawful, and she is yanking out the legal supports the administration keeps leaning on.

Reuters reported that Sykes vacated the immigration appeals board’s decision after finding the administration failed to comply with an earlier order she issued declaring the underlying policy unlawful. AP reported she said the government’s refusal to follow her rulings was reckless, and that bond hearings were being denied despite her prior decisions.

When a court order starts sounding like cable news

AP also reported that more than 20,000 habeas corpus cases have been filed since Trump’s inauguration, based on federal court records analyzed by AP. That is what a clogged system looks like: lawyers multiplying like flies at a picnic.

And Sykes did not just disagree. She threw rhetorical haymakers, including pointing to the deaths of two U.S. citizens in Minnesota, Renée Good and Alex Pretti, as part of her broader condemnation.

What DHS says next

DHS pushed back in a statement, saying it believes the Supreme Court has repeatedly overruled lower courts on mandatory detention issues, and that the administration intends to keep fighting. Translation: this is headed for higher courts, whether Riverside likes it or not.

Bottom line (February 20, 2026)

AP and Reuters say the ruling orders DHS to change notice and access-to-counsel procedures and vacates a key immigration appeals board decision the administration leaned on. DHS says it will keep litigating and thinks the Supreme Court is on its side. That is the scoreboard today.