The Supreme Court has allowed the Biden administration the right to reintroduce rules instructing Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to concentrate immigration enforcement on illegal aliens who have criminal records or pose a national security threat in the U.S. Interior.
The court ruled that Texas and Louisiana – the two states who challenged the guidelines – did not have standing to file the lawsuit.
The decision was 8-1, with Justice Alito being the sole dissenter.
It confirmed that the executive branch has the power to dictate immigration policies in the absence of congressional guidance. It also confirmed that the Biden administration enforces immigration laws in a narrow manner.
CBSNews:
The dispute centers on a memo from the Biden administration in 2021 that instructed ICE agents to arrest immigrants with criminal records and national security threats, as well as migrants who had recently entered the U.S. without permission. This policy shielded unauthorized migrants who had lived in the U.S. illegally for many years from arrest by ICE if there were no serious crimes.
The Biden administration has argued that the memo signed by Homeland Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas allows ICE to focus its limited resources – and 6,000 deportation officers – on apprehending immigrants who are the greatest threat to public safety, border security, and national security. Administration officials claim that the policy is based on the fact that the government cannot deport millions of illegal immigrants.
Republican officials from Texas and Louisiana filed a federal lawsuit against the memo, claiming that it “restrained ICE Agents from fully enforcing the immigration laws.” Although the states had been successful in blocking this policy in lower courts, the Supreme Court decided to take up the case in 2017.
Kavanaugh stated in his majority opinion that “they want a federal judge to order the Executive Branch to change its arrest policy so as to make a greater number of arrests.” “Federal courts have not traditionally entertained this kind of lawsuit. In fact, the States do not cite any precedent for a suit like this.”
Kavanaugh said that Congress should be the place to address immigration issues and not the courts.
In a blistering dissent, he echoed that sentiment, and wondered why Biden’s administration did not want to follow the laws.
Alito wrote: “Simplistically, Congress passed a law requiring the arrest and detention of certain illegal aliens, whose release it believed would threaten public safety.” “The Secretary of DHS is not in agreement with this categorical requirement. He prefers to have a flexible policy.”
This means that immigration laws will be enforced even less in the interior of America, further reducing our sovereignty.
