Client Alert!
The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday declined to reinstate President Joe Biden’s policy shifting the focus of America’s immigration enforcement toward public safety threats, handing a victory to Texas and Louisiana as they challenge a plan they call unlawful.
The justices on a 5-4 vote denied the Biden administration’s request to block a federal judge’s ruling that had prevented immigration officials from carrying out the enforcement guidelines while litigation over the legality of the policy continues. But the court said in a brief order that it would fast-track the Biden administration appeal and hear oral arguments in December.
Biden’s policy departed from the hard-line approach taken by Donald Trump, who sought to broaden the range of immigrants subject to arrest and removal. Biden took office last year promising a more humane approach to immigration.
The policy would give agents more discretion to consider individual circumstances and prioritizes threats to national security or public safety.
Texas and Louisiana sued in a federal court in Texas over Biden’s policy, arguing that under federal law officials lack discretion and are obligated to detain immigrants who commit a broad array of crimes or who have been ordered removed.
