Supreme Court Won’t Let Biden Implement Immigration Policy

The Supreme Court won’t allow the Biden administration to implement a policy that prioritizes deportation of people in the country illegally who pose the greatest public safety risk.

The court’s order Thursday leaves the policy frozen nationwide for now. The vote was 5-4 with conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett joining liberal Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson in saying they would have allowed the Biden administration to put in place the guidance.

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The judge’s order amounted to a “nationwide, judicially imposed overhaul of the Executive Branch’s enforcement priorities,” Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar wrote in a court filing. Prelogar is the administration’s top Supreme Court lawyer.

In their Supreme Court filing, Texas and Louisiana argued that the administration’s guidance violates federal law that requires the detention of people who are in the U.S. illegally and who have been convicted of serious crimes. The states said they would face added costs of having to detain people the federal government might allow to remain free inside the United States, despite their criminal records.

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