An unknown number of immigrants' lives have been or could be upended by the blocking of the Biden administration’s enforcement guidance, which instructed ICE agents to focus on cases involving immigrants who pose a threat to public safety or national security, Roll Call reports. Two Republican-led states challenged the policy and won in federal courts. The Supreme Court has denied the Biden administration’s request to implement the policy as the case continues. That won’t change for months, at least until the justices decide the issue, likely in the first half of 2023. Former Homeland Security officials warn that the lack of nationwide immigration guidance could now force inconsistent decision-making and threaten agency operations long-term.
“This is obviously an incredibly problematic decision for ICE, and really for the country,” said John Sandweg, an ICE director during the Obama administration. The lack of clear guidance from the top could make it harder to hold agents accountable for the quick decisions they make in the field on who to detain and deport, undermine a culture that has long focused first on public safety and potentially make enforcement of immigration laws unequal and depend on where the migrant happens to live, former officials say. That could mean potentially devastating results for undocumented immigrants who’ve spent years in the U.S. with no criminal record or only minor criminal convictions.