Nicolai Haugsted
The court will hear the president’s appeal.
Another high-stakes immigration battle is heading to the U.S. Supreme Court, where justices will now decide how long certain immigrants can be held behind bars while deportation proceedings play out.
At the center of the case is a question that has divided lower courts and immigration advocates for years: can the government keep non-citizens in detention for months—or even years—without giving them a chance to ask for release on bail?
According to Reuters, The Supreme Court announced Monday that it will hear an appeal filed by the Trump administration challenging a lower-court ruling that sided with two green-card holders detained for extended periods without bond hearings.
Challenge focuses on due process rights
Federal law requires immigration authorities to detain non-citizens convicted of certain serious offenses while deportation cases move through the system.
Government lawyers argue that those detention requirements are lawful and necessary.
A federal appeals court based in New York reached a different conclusion when reviewing the cases of two lawful permanent residents who remained in custody for prolonged periods while fighting deportation.
Judges concluded that holding people for months—or, in one case, nearly two years—without an opportunity to seek release raised serious constitutional concerns.
According to the ruling, the Fifth Amendment’s due process protections require a hearing when detention becomes unreasonably long.
Two cases became the center of the legal fight
One of the men, identified in court documents as G.M., immigrated from the Dominican Republic and became a lawful permanent resident in 2011.
After pleading guilty to assault in New York several years later, he was taken into immigration custody in 2020.
G.M. remained detained for 21 months before eventually being released amid concerns surrounding the spread of COVID-19.
Another case involved Carol Black, a Jamaican citizen who became a lawful permanent resident in 1983.
Immigration authorities detained Black in 2019 following an earlier conviction involving the sexual abuse of a child younger than 11 years old.
A federal judge later ordered that Black receive a bail hearing, after which he was released on a $15,000 bond.
Court filings indicate that Black and his wife subsequently left the United States in 2025 and do not plan to return.
Civil liberties groups prepare for Supreme Court fight
Lawyers representing the two men say the appeals court reached the correct conclusion and plan to defend that ruling before the Supreme Court.
American Civil Liberties Union attorney Cecillia Wang said:
“The court of appeals got it right, and we will defend our fundamental due process principles at the Supreme Court.”
Wang argued that constitutional protections apply regardless of immigration status and criticized lengthy detention without judicial review.
“The Constitution protects all of us, regardless of immigration status, from being locked away without due process. ICE cannot detain immigrants – separating families and cutting people off from their communities – for months or even years on end without a bond hearing.”
Another immigration case lands before the justices
Arguments are expected during the Supreme Court’s next term, which begins in October.
The case arrives as the court continues to confront a growing number of disputes tied to Trump’s immigration agenda.
Recent rulings have already allowed the administration to pursue deportations to third countries and revoke temporary legal protections for large groups of migrants.
Additional decisions are expected before the end of June, including challenges involving birthright citizenship and the legal status of hundreds of thousands of immigrants from Haiti and Syria.
A ruling in the detention case could have significant implications for how immigration authorities handle thousands of deportation proceedings in the years ahead.
