Trump Administration’s Consideration of Suspending Habeas Corpus

White House senior adviser Stephen Miller said the administration was “looking at” suspending habeas corpus to deport. Constitution permits suspension only by Congress in rebellion or invasion, a power used in Civil War, Reconstruction, after Pearl Harbor, and by President George W. Bush. Supreme Court affirmed detainees’ habeas rights.

Slate

President Donald Trump pursued an immigration agenda, invoking the Alien Enemies Act, eliminating the Department of Education, and proposing a $1.8 billion fund. The administration aimed to deport one million noncitizens in its first year, but judges repeatedly blocked flights and ordered releases, causing the target to be missed.

Slate

Key participants are Stephen Miller, White House adviser; President Donald Trump; Elora Mukherjee, director of Columbia Law School’s Immigrants’ Rights Clinic; and the U.S. Department of Justice, which has dismissed over 100 immigration judges and reopened the Dilley detention center in Texas.

Slate

Since the start of Trump’s second term, more than 54,000 federal habeas petitions have been filed—exceeding the prior three administrations combined. The DOJ has dismissed over 100 immigration judges, and ICE detention deaths hit a record high in 2026.

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The White House reported the suspension plan was dropped because it would provoke litigation and become a “huge, self-inflicted distraction.” Officials said bond hearings and existing habeas petitions remain the primary means to challenge detention.

Slate

Legal scholars argue that eliminating habeas rights would strip detainees of their safeguard. Mukherjee warned that without the petition process, many noncitizens would face prolonged confinement and deportation, aligning with the administration’s goals.

Slate

Mukherjee’s petitions secured releases for Mahmoud Khalil and Rumeysa Ozturk and freed children—a 18-month-old, a six-year-old with leukemia, and a newborn with a congenital defect—showing the writ’s life-saving impact.

Slate

The proposal conflicted with the constitutional rule that only Congress may suspend habeas corpus, while Supreme Court precedent affirms detainees’ habeas rights even for enemy combatants.

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• “The writ of habeas corpus can be suspended in a time of invasion. So I would say that’s an option we’re actively looking at,” — Stephen Miller, White House senior adviser

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• “A federal habeas petition is one of the only mechanisms that people have left to seek their release from illegal and unconstitutional detention,” — Elora Mukherjee, Director, Immigrants’ Rights Clinic, Columbia Law School

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• “Without habeas corpus, even more noncitizens would remain detained for prolonged periods of time until they are deported from the United States, which is exactly what Stephen Miller wants,” — Elora Mukherjee

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• “The reason these kids and their families were released from immigration detention is because I filed federal habeas petitions for them.” — Elora Mukherjee

Slate

Legal analysts expect courts to keep reviewing the administration’s immigration tactics, and any future attempt to curtail habeas rights would likely face immediate judicial challenges.

Slate