SCOTUS to Weigh Whether Long-Detained Migrants Must Receive Bond Hearings

The Supreme Court agreed on Monday to hear a case that could determine whether Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees have certain due process rights — specifically, whether they can be detained for long periods without a bond hearing.

Any decision could have far-reaching implications for the tens of thousands of migrants currently in ICE custody and for the Trump administration’s draconian crackdown on illegal immigration.

The high court’s decision to pick up the case comes after the Trump administration appealed a lower court’s decision barring the “unreasonably prolonged” detention of immigrants facing deportation, even if they had been convicted of certain crimes. The case in question involved two New York detainees, one of whom had been convicted of sexually abusing a child and the other convicted of assault.

Currently, it is federally mandated that immigrants with serious convictions who are facing deportation are detained, with the list of qualifying crimes expanding under the 2025 Laken Riley Act.

Lower courts across the country have been divided on the issue, creating a gray area over what should be considered “prolonged.” The court is expected to hear arguments during its next term, which starts in October.

American Civil Liberties Union attorney Cecillia Wang, who represented the two men in the 2nd Circuit Court, told Reuters that “the court of appeals got it right, and we will defend ⁠our fundamental due process principles at the Supreme Court.”

“The Constitution protects all of us, regardless of immigration status, from being locked away without due process,” Wang said, adding that ICE “cannot detain immigrants — separating families and cutting people off from their communities — for months or even years on end without a bond hearing.”

This isn’t the first time the high court has waded into Trump’s immigration policies. It has backed Trump in several immigration-related rulings ⁠issued on an emergency basis during his second term. This included allowing the administration to deport migrants to countries other than their home countries.

It’s unclear if the Supreme Court will ultimately make a decision on the issue — the detainees involved in the case have argued that the matter is irrelevant, because one voluntarily left the country in 2023 and the other has been released and applied for a pardon in his criminal case.