Supreme Court Takes Up Trump's Policy of Detaining Immigrants Without Bond Hearings

The Supreme Court agreed on Oct. 1, 2026 to hear Rhoney v. Barbosa da Cunha, testing Trump's 2025 ICE guidance that treats any noncitizen who entered the country illegally -- however long ago -- as if still seeking admission at the border, stripping the right to a bond hearing during deportation proceedings. The named petitioner, Ricardo Aparecido Barbosa da Cunha, is a Brazilian national who entered around 2005, had a pending asylum application, a work permit, a home and a small business before ICE arrested him in 2025. The Second Circuit ruled against the administration's reading of the law; the Fifth and Eighth Circuits sided with it, while five other circuits ruled against it.

The case reaches a consequential immigration-enforcement question of Trump's second term: whether the government may detain long-settled immigrants indefinitely without a judge weighing flight or safety risk. Federal judges have ruled against the policy more than 9,300 times, by a count Breitbart attributed to Politico, while ICE reported more than 356,000 removals in fiscal 2026.

Oral argument is expected in early 2027; the circuit split means enforceability continues to vary by region until the Court rules.