(Washington) The very conservative Supreme Court of the United States granted a clear victory to the administration of Joe Biden on Friday by authorizing it to apply the priorities of its choice in terms of deporting undocumented immigrants.
By a majority of eight judges out of nine, the High Court rejected for procedural reasons an appeal brought by the states of Texas and Louisiana, in the hands of elected Republicans.
This judgment allows the entry into force of a directive adopted in September 2021 by the Minister of Internal Security, Alejandro Mayorkas, which asked the immigration police (ICE) to focus their efforts on foreigners posing a terrorist threat. or criminal, and on those arriving after the 1er November 2020.
More than 11 million illegal immigrants live in the United States and “we do not have the resources to arrest and deport each one” of them, he justified, taking the opposite view of former Republican President Donald Trump.
These new instructions were immediately challenged in court by Texas and Louisiana. They had pleaded that they would cause them additional costs in terms of education, police and social services.
A federal judge ruled in their favor in June 2022 and blocked the implementation of this policy. The administration of Joe Biden then turned to the Supreme Court, which finally agreed with him without going into the substantive arguments.
” Carte blanche “
“States wanted federal justice to order the Executive Branch to change its arrest policy to make more arrests,” but the Supreme Court has repeatedly clarified that only people targeted by an arrest policy arrests could dispute it, says magistrate Brett Kavanaugh on behalf of the majority.
“In application of this fundamental principle […], we conclude that the States do not have the standing to bring this complaint, ”he adds. “The decision should not be understood as suggesting that the Executive has complete freedom” in the matter, he takes care to add, leaving the door open to future complaints.
Powerful civil rights group ACLU was pleased that the Supreme Court had “judiciously” rejected efforts by Texas and Louisiana to “force the government to put in place the most draconian policy possible” on expulsion.
Republican Governor of Texas Greg Abbott, on the contrary, denounced on Twitter a “scandalous decision”. The Supreme Court is “giving carte blanche to the Biden administration,” he wrote, promising to continue to deploy his state’s National Guard to turn back migrants at the border with Mexico.
Clandestine arrivals at the US southern border had hit all-time highs before the change in immigration rules six weeks ago, and remain high with nearly 170,000 arrests in May.
The subject is very divisive and should be one of the main themes of the 2024 presidential campaign.