Washington DC - The Supreme Court said Thursday it will decide whether President Donald Trump's administration can deny immigrants facing deportation the chance to seek release on bond, in the latest major challenge to his hardline immigration agenda.

The policy, introduced after Trump returned to office last year, allows authorities to keep some immigrants detained throughout removal proceedings – potentially for years – even if they have lived in the US for decades.

Previous administrations, including Trump's first, generally allowed such detainees to ask an immigration judge for release while their cases were decided, provided they were not considered dangerous or likely to flee.

The administration argues that a 1996 immigration law requires mandatory detention for people who entered the country illegally, regardless of how long ago they arrived.

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Immigrant advocates say that provision was intended chiefly for people stopped at or near the border and that long-term residents arrested inside the country should remain eligible for bond hearings.

Most lower courts to consider the question have rejected the administration's interpretation, triggering thousands of challenges from people held during Trump's mass deportation campaign.

The Supreme Court case concerns Ricardo Aparecido Barbosa da Cunha, a Brazilian who had lived in the US for about two decades when immigration agents detained him following a traffic stop in Massachusetts last year.

A federal judge ordered his release, and an appeals court upheld the decision.

The administration says the flood of lawsuits challenging mandatory detention has disrupted enforcement of immigration law.

Solicitor General D. John Sauer called the dispute a "critically important question," according to US media, arguing that detention helps prevent immigrants from evading deportation proceedings.

The American Civil Liberties Union, which represents challengers to the policy, describes the administration's interpretation as a radical departure from decades of practice.

Immigration detention has expanded sharply under Trump, with 66,000 people being held nationwide as of July, according to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, which provides nonpartisan data on federal agencies.

The justices are expected to hear arguments early next year and issue a ruling by the end of June.