The U.S. Supreme Court decided on Friday (23) that the federal government can implement the immigration guidelines created by the Biden administration that establish priorities on which unauthorized immigrants should be arrested and deported.
The guidelines, written in 2021, allow Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to determine who should be removed from the country, suggesting that the priority should be immigrants who pose a threat to national security, public safety, and borders, as the government lacks the resources and capacity to detain and remove the estimated 11 million undocumented individuals living in the country.
The states of Texas and Louisiana filed a lawsuit to block these guidelines, which they argue would allow many immigrants with criminal backgrounds to remain free, violating a federal law that, according to them, made detentions mandatory.
Last summer, Judge Drew B. Tipton of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas issued a ruling that blocked the use of the guidelines nationwide. A unanimous panel of three judges from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans did not change the decision.
The Biden administration filed an emergency request asking the Supreme Court to block Judge Tipton’s ruling. In a brief order in July, the court denied the request in a 5-4 vote. However, the justices agreed to hear the case more quickly.
With eight votes in favor and one against, Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh wrote the majority decision, joined by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and the three liberal members of the court, Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson. Justices Clarence Thomas, Neil M. Gorsuch, and Amy Coney Barrett voted with the majority but did not adopt its rationale. Only Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. dissented from the decision.
“The States have brought an extraordinarily unusual lawsuit,” wrote Justice Brett Kavanaugh. “They want a federal court to order the Executive to change its detention policies to make more arrests. Federal courts traditionally do not entertain this type of lawsuit; in fact, the States cite no precedent for such a lawsuit.”
In summary, the court decided that the states do not have the legal right to sue in the first place; a decision that will help clarify when a state can challenge a federal policy in court going forward.
The decision is a significant victory for President Joe Biden, who has always argued the need to prioritize who the government detains and deports due to limited resources.
Source: The New York Times and CNN