Habeas corpus is a fundamental US legal protection that allows individuals to challenge unlawful detention in court.

The Trump administration is "actively looking at" the possibility of suspending the writ of habeas corpus to handle people the administration says aren't in the country legally, White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller said Friday.

"Reinterpreting the Constitution on a whim in an effort to grant authoritarian powers is unpatriotic and un-American."