Legal challenges to the Trump administration’s immigrant deportation practices are providing new — and sometimes competing — court rulings every week.
On June 23, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that Green Card holders can be denied reentry into the United States even if border officers have no solid proof they have committed a crime. The ruling in Blanche v. Lau held that border agents are not required to prove “clear and convincing evidence” that lawful permanent residents returning to the U.S. broke the law in order to deny them reentry.
Also on June 23, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia rule 2-1 in Make the Road New York v. Mullin that the Trump administration may conduct fast-track deportations against immigrants in the country less than two years and if they were apprehended at the border. The decision overturned a lower-court injunction blocking the Department of Homeland Security from expanding a 1996 law allowing immigration officers to quickly decide and conduct deportations at the nation’s borders.
But on July 2, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the federal government cannot hold undocumented immigrants for more than 90 days without a bond hearing. That ruling rejected a Trump administration policy to hold immigrants until they are deported. In the 2-1 ruling, the New Orleans-based panel said the federal government must explain at court hearings why it believes some undocumented immigrants don’t deserve to be released on bond.
“Our only requirement is that a hearing must be held within 90 days of the commencement of detention and that at the hearing, the government must articulate an individualized justification for further detention without bond,” wrote Leslie H. Southwick, a George W. Bush appointee, wrote in the majority opinion.
On July 1, immigrant rights groups sued to block new federal guidelines threatening the ability of asylum seekers and Temporary Protected Status holders to work and remain in the country safely.
The lawsuit challenges several policies U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services created to comply with sections of the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” passed in 2025.
Recent rulings on habeas corpus demands for detained immigrants may be the most significant. They also may be the most confusing.
As a result of the administration’s policies, “health care workers, janitors, airport workers, engineers, property service workers and countless others across the country face the loss of their jobs, health insurance and financial stability despite continuing to qualify for humanitarian protection,” the lawsuit contends.
This litigation filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Massachusetts comes on the heels of a June 25 Supreme Court decision that cleared the way for the Trump administration to end TPS for 350,000 Haitians and 4,000 Syrians and put the futures of 1 million TPS holders from 17 countries in doubt.
Among all these lower-court cases, recent rulings on habeas corpus demands for detained immigrants may be the most significant. They also may be the most confusing.
The Second Circuit, Sixth Circuit and 11th Circuit have struck down blanket no-bond rules. They ruled that detaining long-term residents and those not actively seeking admission without individualized bond hearings violates constitutional due process protections.
The Fifth Circuit and Eighth Circuit have sided partly with the Trump administration, affirming the executive branch has the authority to mandate detention. However, even within those circuits, judges have mandated bond hearings must happen within 90 days of detention.
Mandatory detentions — which have swelled the numbers of people being held in federal immigration prisons under worsening conditions — are a key tenet of the Trump administration’s plan. This also has been a key point of contention among critics of the administration.
The matter likely is headed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The Texas Tribune says immigrant detentions under the Trump policy have led to a historic number of lawsuits. The Tribune cites ProPublica, which has documented that “immigrants have filed more habeas corpus petitions — nearly 47,000 — in the first 13 months of the second Trump administration than in the past three administrations combined. Roughly one in five were filed in Texas federal courts.”
“Politico found that more than 400 federal judges — appointed by presidents of both major political parties — have ruled in favor of immigrants’ right to due process in more than 5,000 cases since the policy change last year. In comparison, 41 judges have sided with the Trump administration’s interpretation of the law in 250 cases.”