ACLU Comment on Supreme Court Ruling in United States v. Texas Immigration Case

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected a challenge from Texas and Louisiana to the Biden administration’s immigration enforcement priorities in United States v. Texas. The court held that Texas and Louisiana lack standing to force “the Executive Branch to alter its arrest policy so as to make more arrests” because that discretion belongs to the federal government. The result is that the administration’s enforcement priorities, blocked since June 2022, will now take effect.

The American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU of Texas, and American Immigration Lawyers Association filed an amicus brief in this case emphasizing that the immigration statutes do not require the federal government to arrest any particular noncitizens, and that Texas and Louisiana cannot enforce those statutes to take control of federal immigration policy. Today, the court agreed.

Omar Jadwat, director of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project, had the following reaction:

“This decision soundly rejects the misguided attempt by Texas and Louisiana to force the government to implement the most draconian immigration enforcement policy.”

Ruling: https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/22pdf/22-58_i425.pdf

Background: https://www.aclu.org/cases/united-states-v-texas

This case is part of the ACLU’s Joan and Irwin Jacobs Supreme Court Docket.