US Supreme Court agrees to hear Trump immigration detention dispute

The US Supreme Court agreed on Thursday to hear a dispute over a policy by President Donald Trump’s administration that subjects millions of immigrants in the United States illegally to mandatory detention during their deportation proceedings, Reuters reported.

The justices took up the administration’s appeal of a lower court’s ruling against the policy and will hear the case in the new term beginning on Monday, in the latest legal battle over Trump’s hardline immigration agenda to reach the top court.

In July 2025, the Department of Homeland Security issued new guidance to federal immigration officials announcing that immigrants in the United States illegally are subject to mandatory detention without a bond hearing for the duration of their deportation proceedings, which can take months or even years.

Reuters said the guidance departed from a nearly three-decade-old interpretation of federal law under which immigrants already living in the United States could be released on bond while they pursued their cases in immigration court.

Immigrants detained under the policy have filed tens of thousands of lawsuits seeking their release. A Reuters analysis in February found that hundreds of judges around the country had ruled more than 4,400 times that the administration had detained such immigrants unlawfully.