The Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to review the Trump administration’s policy of indefinitely detaining immigrants who crossed the border illegally years ago, signaling the court plans to weigh in on major pieces of President Trump’s aggressive deportation agenda as it begins its new term on Monday.
The policy is a departure from past practice, when such migrants were generally allowed an opportunity for a hearing before a judge.
The justices previously announced that they would fast-track a separate case testing the administration’s policy of deporting immigrants to countries where they have no ties, including nations that have faced allegations of human rights abuses.
Between the two cases, the justices will consider the legality of some of the most controversial aspects of the Trump administration’s efforts to rapidly expel millions of migrants living in the United States.
The case the court accepted on Thursday involved noncitizens who entered the United States illegally but had been living in the country for years. For decades, such people could be released on bond pending additional court proceedings, so long as they were not found to be a threat to public safety or a flight risk.
But last year, the Trump administration announced a new interpretation of a 1996 law, concluding it allowed noncitizens living in the United States to be held without bond. As a result, immigration judges have denied hearings to people, even if they have been living and working in the United States for years.
More than 500 district court judges and four of six federal appeals courts to consider the issue have rejected the administration’s new detention rule and its interpretation of the immigration law at issue.
About 70,000 people are currently in immigration detention across the United States, up from 40,000 before Mr. Trump took office in January 2025.
More than two-thirds of undocumented immigrants have lived in the United States for at least a decade.
Most of the appeals courts to consider the issue have said the government should have provided hearings to determine whether they posed a danger to others or a flight risk pending the completion of removal proceedings.
D. John Sauer, the solicitor general, told the justices that detaining immigrants who are living in the country long after an illegal entry “prevents those aliens from evading hearings and helps ensure their removal from the United States.”
Immigrant advocates say federal law requires the government to provide noncitizens, regardless of how they entered the country, access to a bond hearing. The policy, they say, has stripped people of an opportunity to seek release by a judge.
Lawyers for the immigrants say the administration’s reading of the statute allows the government to lock up millions of people who have resided in the United States for years without a possibility of a hearing or release. They emphasize that five presidential administrations over three decades, including the first Trump administration, have provided custody hearings.
Albert Sun contributed reporting.
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