The US Supreme Court has agreed to consider whether the Trump administration can require the mandatory detention of millions of immigrants who are already living in the United States without legal status while they await the outcome of deportation proceedings.
The case, accepted by the justices ahead of the court’s new term, places a contentious immigration policy before the nation’s highest court after a series of lower-court rulings challenged the administration’s interpretation of federal law.
The dispute stems from guidance issued by the Department of Homeland Security in July 2025. Under the policy, certain immigrants in the country unlawfully are to be held without access to bond hearings throughout their deportation proceedings, which can sometimes stretch for months or years.
That approach departed from a longstanding interpretation under which some immigrants already residing in the country could seek release on bond while their immigration cases moved through the courts.
Dispute reaches the Supreme Court
The administration is appealing a ruling from the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals in a case involving Brazilian national Ricardo Aparecido Barbosa da Cunha.
Barbosa da Cunha entered the United States around 2004 or 2005 and remained in the country. Immigration officers arrested him in September 2025 while he was driving to work in Norwood, Massachusetts. He was initially denied a bond hearing under the administration’s policy, although he was later released on bond as his case continued.
The legal question centers on whether immigrants who have already been living in the United States can be treated as “applicants for admission” under federal immigration law.
People classified as applicants for admission are generally subject to mandatory detention while their immigration cases are pending and cannot seek release through a bond hearing.
The administration argues that its interpretation reflects the way Congress intended the law to operate. The American Civil Liberties Union, representing Barbosa da Cunha, disputes that interpretation and maintains that the government cannot use it to impose prolonged detention without judicial review.
Lower courts have pushed back
The detention policy has generated thousands of legal challenges across the country.
More than 73,000 related cases have been filed in federal court this year, according to the figures cited in the case, accounting for roughly one-quarter of all civil lawsuits filed in federal courts.
Courts have repeatedly questioned the government’s approach. A review cited in the litigation found that judges had ruled more than 4,400 times that immigrants had been unlawfully detained under the administration’s policies.
Several federal appeals courts have also rejected the government’s interpretation. The 2nd Circuit and the 6th US Circuit Court of Appeals are among the courts that have ruled against the policy.
In the 2nd Circuit decision, US Circuit Judge Joseph Bianco, who was appointed by Trump, said the administration’s interpretation represented a major departure from established law and would create an exceptionally broad system of detention without bond hearings.
The administration subsequently asked the Supreme Court to resolve the dispute.
Another major immigration case ahead
The detention case will be the second significant immigration dispute involving the Trump administration to reach the Supreme Court during the upcoming term.
The justices have already allowed the administration, at least temporarily, to resume expedited deportations of migrants to countries other than their own without first providing an opportunity to argue that they could face serious harm there. Arguments in that case are scheduled for December.
The Supreme Court’s decision on the detention policy could determine how federal immigration authorities handle a large group of immigrants during deportation proceedings and settle a dispute that has produced conflicting rulings across the lower courts.
