What is Habeas Corpus and why could Donald Trump want to suspend it?

The management of US President Donald Trump “is actively looking at Habas Corpus, the principle that a person should question their detention in court.

Stephen Miller, deputy chief of staff of the White House, says that the legal principle is a “privilege” that could be suspended to capture and deport immigrants.

The recent judicial challenges of migrants and different students who were recorded in immigration centers have cited Habas Corpus as the reason for their release.

But what the legal procedure does – and what could happen if it could be suspended – is complex.

Scientists say that the principle that a person should not be illegally imprisoned, the Magna Carta and for centuries is a cornerstone of the legal system in Great Britain, the USA and other democratic countries around the world.

Habeas Corpus means roughly from Latin and means “You should have the body” – as in MUST one person appears in front of a court so that a judge can assess whether this person has been legally arrested.

Habas Corpus, also known as “great freedom”, grants the prisoners the right to question their detention before a court.

Article one of the US constitution states that “the privilege of the Habeas Corpus must not be suspended, unless public security can demand this in cases of rebellion or invasion”.

While this is the only time that Habeas Corpus is mentioned in the constitution, it has become an important part of the US Act – and was often combated before the courts, including the US Supreme Court.

Abraham Lincoln was the first US President to expose Habeas Corpus in 1861 during the American Civil War.

This led to a showdown with the highest judge of the Supreme Court of Roger Tay, who said that it was the congress – not the executive of the government branch – that had the authority to suspend the letter.

According to the National Constitution Center, Lincoln continued to suspend Habas Corpus in certain cases and approved the suspension of the suspension for the duration of the war in 1863 if “public security may require this”.

Even in the years after the civil war, it was suspended several times during the reconstruction period to lift the rebellions of the white supremacist ku Klux Klan group.

After the bombing of Pearl Harbor by the Japanese in World War II, Habas Corpus was suspended in Hawaii. who paved the way for the arrest of Japanese Americans on the island.

The courts have found that both US citizens and non-citizens have the right to Habas Corpus. In 2008, the US Court of Justice expanded this by non -citizens who were detained in a foreign prison like Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.

But just because prisoners have the right to question their detention, they cannot guarantee that they can leave custody.

The success of a Habeas Corpus petition is extremely rare -most people who are detained were arrested for legal reasons, in general.

Asadullah Haroon Gul was the first Guantanamo prisoner to win a Habeas Corpus petition in 2021. He was attributed to Afghanistan for more than a decade after the Supreme Court of the United States that prisoners had Corpus privileges.

However, since the administration of Trump has strengthened the arrest of illegal immigrants and students from the students, Habeas Corpus has received another legal interest.

In April, the Supreme Court ruled that migrants, who were deported to Trump by the appeal of the law on the enemies of the law, have to be adequately announced to submit petitions. For this reason, it temporarily blocked some deportations in Texas.

The doctoral student of Columbia University, Mahmoud Khalil, who was imprisoned in propalestinian campus protests after his leading personality, submitted his own Habeas Corpus petition because he is in the middle of listing of deportation.