A burning question hangs over a national court ruling declaring the Trump administration's restrictive bond policy for detained immigrants is unlawful: Will immigration judges abide by it?

In all other times, I would have said 'Of course they're going to abide by it,'" said Matt Adams, legal director for the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, which helped represent plaintiffs in the class-action case. But, he said, a similar court case playing out in Tacoma suggests that outcome is far from assured.

What immigration judges ultimately do — possibly with guidance from their bosses within the Department of Justice — will determine whether thousands of immigrants will have a chance of release from increasingly crowded jail-like facilities while waiting days, months or years for their cases to resolve.

California U.S. District Court Judge Sunshine Sykes issued a ruling on the bond policy last week. At that time, it applied only to four plaintiffs who had been arrested in June immigration raids in that state. Sykes on Tuesday extended the ruling to a nationwide class encompassing many immigrants who entered the country without inspection by U.S. officials.

The administration's bond policy has its roots in Tacoma. A few years ago, three of the Tacoma Immigration Court's then-four judges — including the current U.S. Attorney for Western Washington, Neil Floyd — began declaring they lacked jurisdiction to issue a bond to most immigrants who had come to the U.S. illegally.

Bond, like bail in criminal courts, enables people with pending court cases to be released if they pay money meant to ensure they'll show up to future hearings.

Immigration law requires detention, the Tacoma judges said, for "applicants for admission" to the U.S. who enter without permission. And in their view, breaking with longstanding precedent, such applicants include even immigrants who have lived in the U.S. for decades.

Tacoma U.S. District Court Judge Tiffany Cartwright said otherwise, ruling in September on a class-action case also brought by the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project. That case pertains specifically to the court housed inside the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma.

Legally, the national ruling out of California doesn't add to the mandate affecting people in Washington, Adams said. But, he added, he is hoping it will bring attention to the issue that may pressure the administration to change its policy.

Since Cartwright's ruling, Tacoma's immigration judges have continued to say they lack jurisdiction to issue bonds in such cases. They have cited a ruling by the Board of Immigration Appeals that reinforces the Trump administration's bond policy, laid out in a July memo.

Floyd, in an October interview with The Seattle Times, called Cartwright's so-called "declaratory" ruling merely "advisory" because it renders an opinion on the law rather than directly orders the government to do something. A direct order is not possible in certain class-action immigration cases.

Even so, Elizabeth Porter, a University of Washington professor who teaches constitutional law, said in a previous interview the government should "respectfully do" what a U.S. District Court judge determines is required by law.

Sykes' national ruling is also declaratory. "It is unambiguous that 'applicants for admission' do not include noncitizens already in the United States," she wrote.

The U.S. departments of Justice and Homeland Security did not respond to requests for comment.

Locally, the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project is asking Cartwright, the Tacoma District Court judge, to order that immigration judges be notified that they are bound by her ruling. The nonprofit immigrant rights group also wants notice be given to detained immigrants who could benefit.

As immigration judges ignored Cartwright's ruling, NWIRP attorneys and other immigration lawyers have filed a series of "habeas" petitions in District Court charging that specific individuals denied the opportunity for bond are being unlawfully held. Cartwright has typically ordered that bond hearings be held or people be released. Tacoma's immigration judges have complied.

It's a "two-step dance, said Adams, the immigrant rights group's legal director. Although it's brought relief to some, Adams said he worries people with out-of-state lawyers or without any legal representation aren't aware of the ruling and the habeas option.

Cartwright has not yet rendered a decision on NWIRP's latest requests. If she grants them, and Tacoma immigration judges continue to say they can't issue bonds, Adams said his organization is likely to seek punitive relief, such as monetary sanctions.

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