WASHINGTON – In what appears to be bolstering Joe Biden’s administration, the United States Supreme Court upheld the federal government’s decision on the issue of deportation.
The judgment issued on Friday upheld the government’s right to decide which undocumented migrants should be targeted for deportation and in an 8-1 vote, the apex court ruled that the states of Texas and Louisiana did not enjoy the legal standing to challenge the federal government’s policy.
Texas and Louisiana filed suit after the Department of Homeland Security instructed US Immigration and Customs Enforcement in September 2021 to focus expulsion efforts on persons who pose a ‘threat to national security, public safety, and border security.’
In court, Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar staunchly defended President Joe Biden’s administration’s policy, emphasizing the need for prioritization due to limited resources. Prelogar asserted that the federal government is unable to dedicate its efforts to pursuing the estimated 11 million undocumented individuals residing in the country.
In the majority opinion authored by Justice Brett Kavanaugh, the lawsuit brought by the states was termed “extraordinarily unusual.”
“They want a federal court to order the Executive Branch to alter its arrest policies so as to make more arrests,” Kavanaugh said.
“Federal courts have not traditionally entertained that kind of lawsuit,” he said, adding that if the court ruled in favor of the states it would lead to “expansive judicial direction of the Department’s arrest policies.”
“We could anticipate complaints in future years about alleged Executive Branch under-enforcement of any similarly worded laws – whether they be drug laws, gun laws, obstruction of justice laws, or the like,” Kavanaugh said.
During the court’s oral arguments in November, Texas Solicitor General Judd Stone highlighted the potential costs imposed on the state. Being a border state with Mexico and a frequent entry point for hundreds of thousands of undocumented migrants annually, Stone argued that prioritizing specific categories of individuals for deportation would result in financial burdens for Texas.
“Texas suffers injuries, regardless of what it does, whether it detains, releases or paroles individuals because we have not only law enforcement costs, but social services costs and very serious threats of recidivism,” Stone said.
As far as the ruling is concerned, Greg Abbott, the Republican governor of Texas, denounced it as “outrageous.”
Abbott has been sending busloads of immigrants to Democratic-ruled states recently as a protest against the federal government’s immigration policies.
He explained that Friday’s ruling gives the Biden administration “carte blanche to avoid accountability for abandoning enforcement of immigration laws.”
On the other hand, the American Civil Liberties Union said the decision “soundly rejects the misguided attempt by Texas and Louisiana to force the government to implement the most draconian immigration enforcement policy.”
The Biden administration’s move to target individuals considered a threat to national security or public safety for deportation marks a shift from the policy of the administration of former president Donald Trump, which called for the expulsion of “all removable aliens.”
It bears mentioning that it was the court’s second decision in a year that affirmed the executive branch’s power in cases related to immigration.
