OAN’s Roy Francis
8:40 AM – Friday, June 23, 2023
The Supreme Court gave the Biden administration a major win on Friday, by ruling that GOP-led states cannot challenge a policy which narrows federal immigration enforcement.
In U.S. v Texas, in which Republican states challenged the narrowing of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) priorities for arrests and deportations, the Justices found that the states did not have the standings to challenge policy in a ruling of 8-1.
The opinion, which was written by Justice Brett Kavanaugh, said that the States brought an “extraordinarily unusual lawsuit.”
“In sum, the States have brought an extraordinarily unusual lawsuit,” the opinion said. “They want a federal court to order the Executive Branch to alter its arrest policies so as to make more arrests. Federal courts have not traditionally entertained that kind of lawsuit; indeed, the States cite no precedent for a lawsuit like this.”
However, Kavanaugh wrote that “other forums remain open” for the states if they wish to press their concerns, pointing towards Congress.
“We do not opine on whether any such actions are appropriate in this instance,” he wrote.
Justice Samuel Alito was the only dissenter and said that the court found that “the only limit on the power of a president to disobey a law like the important provision at issue is Congress’ power to employ the weapons of inter-branch warfare.”
In 2021, President Joe Biden had announced his plan towards illegal immigration enforcement, which was a different approach from the hardline enforcement that 45th President Donald Trump had taken while he was in office.
The Biden administration said that with the estimated 11 million immigrants in the U.S. illegally, the government needs to prioritize certain cases because they did not have the resources to process everyone.
The administration had issued new enforcement guidelines by the Department of Homeland Security which required all ICE agents to target only three types of illegal immigrants, those who had most recently crossed the border, the ones who pose as a threat to public safety, and threats to national security.
Texas and Louisiana were the first states to challenge the policy arguing that federal law requires illegal immigrants, particularly ones convicted of aggravated felonies, human trafficking, and gun crimes, must be detained after their release from criminal custody.
U.S. District Judge Drew Tipton had sided with the states and said that they had standing because they could show cases where immigrants who should have been detained under federal law, were free in those states and had committed crimes.
Tipton said that Biden’s policy was unlawful and that the Biden administration had failed to follow the correct procedure in implementing it.
The Biden administration had appealed to the Supreme Court to immediately restore the policy in 2022, arguing that the president has broad discretion to set his enforcement policies.
The Supreme Court had rejected the request in July 2022 by a vote of 5-4, however the justices had agreed to take up the government’s appeal.
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