A federal appeals court on Thursday rejected U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) mass detention policy, marking the latest legal defeat for the agency and practically ensuring the case heads to the Supreme Court.

The Fourth Circuit ruling on Thursday marked the ninth loss for ICE at the appellate level on the matter, Politico reported. In a 2-1 decision, the panel of judges likened the matter to the Japanese internment camps of World War II.

“Those shameful and abhorrent past detentions were limited in scope in comparison to the mandatory detention that the Government urges us today to find that Congress established thirty years ago in an ambiguously worded statutory provision. We decline to do so,” wrote Judge Barbara Keenan.

Under the Trump administration, ICE has worked to enact the mass deportations that the president promised on the campaign trail. While data has suggested the foreign-born population, legal or otherwise, has decreased by roughly 3 million, the agency still aims to deport millions more.

Ben Whedon is the Chief Political Correspondent for Just the News. Follow him on X.