Great News for People in Removal Proceedings!

Last week, the Supreme Court issued an opinion in which it held that the states of Texas and Louisiana have no standing to challenge the Executive Branch’s prosecutorial discretion in enforcing immigration law.

On Sept. 30, 2021, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas issued a Memorandum, in which DHS outlined three priority groups for the enforcement of immigration law: (1) individuals who are a threat to national security, (2) public safety, or (3) border security. The states of Texas and Louisiana challenged the Memorandum in federal court, claiming that, by following the Memorandum’s guidelines, the Biden administration was not meeting its mandate under the Immigration and Nationality Act to arrest and detain certain noncitizens. The states alleged that, as a result of this policy, they have incurred undue costs in providing social services for those noncitizens.

In its decision, the Supreme Court found that Texas and Louisiana cannot challenge the Memorandum because, even if injured monetarily by the government’s immigration enforcement policies, the states themselves are not being arrested or threatened with arrest under those policies. This means the government is free to enforce the laws the way they see best fits. What will likely happen is people who have never been arrested and have been in the United States for many years, will no longer be in danger of immediate removal. We will probably receive more guidance in the future, so please check our website for any updates.