What is habeas corpus? Trump admin looking to suspend writ to fast-track deportations of illegal migrants

US President Donald Trump's administration, as per reports, is considering the suspension of habeas corpus — the centuries-old constitutional right that allows detainees to legally challenge their imprisonment — to fast-track his crackdown on illegal immigrants in the US.

Talking to reporters outside the White House, Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff, on Friday said that the administration was "actively looking at" suspending habeas corpus, citing what he called an "invasion" at the US-Mexico border.

"The Constitution is clear," Miller said, "the privilege of 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," said Miller, adding, "Look, a lot of it depends on whether the courts do the right thing or not".

What is habeas corpus?

The suspension of habeas corpus would be an extraordinary step. The right was taken from the English common law and is codified in Article I, Section 9 of the US Constitution. It protects individuals from arbitrary detention.

It has only been suspended a handful of times in US history, most notably multiple times by Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War, to detain suspected spies and Confederate sympathisers; by Congress during Reconstruction in parts of South Carolina under the Civil Rights Act of 1871. Furthermore, it was also briefly suspended in US territories during periods of unrest or war — two provinces of the Philippines in 1905, when it was a US territory and authorities were worried about the threat of an insurrection, and in Hawaii after the 1941 bombing of Pearl Harbour, but before it became a state in 1959.

As per the constitution, habeas corpus "shall not be suspended, unless when, in cases of rebellion or invasion, the public safety may require it".