The Supreme Court sided with the Biden administration Friday, ruling 8-1 against two states that challenged its immigration enforcement priorities.
Texas and Louisiana challenged guidelines issued by the Department of Homeland Security in 2021 that prioritized arresting and removing certain groups of illegal immigrants, including suspected terrorists and criminals. The Supreme Court held Friday that the two states lack standing to challenge the guidelines, noting that the states “have not cited any precedent, history, or tradition of courts ordering the Executive Branch to change its arrest or prosecution policies so that the Executive Branch makes more arrests or initiates more prosecutions.”
“In holding that Texas and Louisiana lack standing, we do not suggest that federal courts may never entertain cases involving the Executive Branch’s alleged failure to make more arrests or bring more prosecutions,” Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote in the majority opinion, joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson. (RELATED: SCOTUS Holds Law Making It Illegal To ‘Encourage Or Induce’ Illegal Immigration Does Not Violate First Amendment)
PHILADELPHIA, PA – MARCH 02: The U.S. Department of Homeland Security seal is seen as DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas delivers remarks while visiting a FEMA community vaccination center on March 2, 2021 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Mark Makela/Getty Images)
Justices Neil Gorsuch, Clarence Thomas and Amy Coney Barrett concurred in judgement.
In his dissent, Justice Samuel Alito wrote that the majority’s decision “renders States already laboring under the effects of massive illegal immigration even more helpless,” arguing that Texas did have standing to sue.
“If States are also barred from bringing suit even when they satisfy our established test for Article III standing, they are powerless to defend their vital interests,” he wrote. “If a President fails or refuses to enforce the immigration laws, the States must simply bear the consequences.”
In a statement, Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas applauded the ruling and said the guidelines “enable DHS to most effectively accomplish its law enforcement mission with the authorities and resources provided by Congress.”
“DHS looks forward to reinstituting these Guidelines, which had been effectively applied by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers to focus limited resources and enforcement actions on those who pose a threat to our national security, public safety, and border security,” Mayorkas said.
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