Justices to consider rights for green card holders stuck in immigration detention

Source: Courthouse News Service

June 15, 2026


WASHINGTON (CN) — The Supreme Court on Monday took up an appeal from the Trump administration concerning the rights of green card holders stuck for months in immigration detention. In a pair of cases involving two longtime residents with permanent legal status, the justices agreed to decide if immigrants subject to mandatory detention are entitled to release hearings after a prolonged period in custody.

The government asked the court to resolve a constitutional question left over from a 2018 case known as Jennings v. Rodriguez. “While the question in Jennings focused on ‘detention last[ing] six months,’ the underlying issue was the same: whether there is a point at which Section 1226(c) detention becomes ‘unreasonably prolonged’ under the due process clause,” the government wrote. “The court should therefore take this opportunity to resolve the constitutional issue that it reserved eight terms ago, which has since become the subject of a circuit split.”

Keisy G.M. and Carol Williams Black were detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for 21 and seven months, respectively, under a provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act allowing certain noncitizens with criminal background to be detained during removal proceedings.

Both men petitioned for individualized hearings to assess whether they posed a flight risk or danger such that they could not be released from custody. The government’s case asked whether the men were entitled to such a hearing after their detention became “unreasonably prolonged,” and, if so, what burden the government needs to meet to justify their continued detention.

Read more: https://courthousenews.com/justices-to-consider-rights-for-green-card-holders-stuck-in-immigration-detention/