Leer en Español
The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected the Biden Administration’s request to immediately impose a different immigrant deportation criteria policy than the one dictated by his predecessor Donald Trump (2017-2021).
By a vote of five against and four in favor (conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett sided on this occasion with the progressives in favor of the Executive), the Supreme Court dismissed the Biden Administration’s request and will instead hold an oral hearing on the issue in December.
This was the first vote involving Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, so far the only Supreme Court justice appointed on Biden’s nomination, who was confirmed by the Senate in April.
The government filed a request for relief before the Supreme Court after a federal judge in Texas in early June overturned the rules established by the Democratic Executive to detain and deport foreigners, which give priority to those who pose a danger to national security.
On that occasion, Magistrate Drew Tipton ruled in favor of a lawsuit filed by the states of Texas and Louisiana, which sought precisely to let stand the priorities set by Trump and considered the deportation of all undocumented immigrants.
Tipton found that the Democratic Administration’s criteria did not comply with administrative procedures and called its priorities rule arbitrary and capricious.
The dispute over Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) priorities began in February 2021 —already under Biden’s presidency— when agents were ordered to prioritize the detention and deportation of immigrants deemed a danger to national security and public order.
