High Court, 5 to 4, Blocks Biden's Immigration Enforcement Plan

By a 5 to 4 vote, the Supreme Court denied the Biden administration’s request to reinstate its immigration enforcement priorities. The justices agreed to hear the case later this year, Politico reports. The court majority rejected the administration’s request to stay a court order blocking the Department of Homeland Security from setting its enforcement priorities to focus more on those who pose a threat to national security and public safety. The guidelines will remain blocked for now, but the court will hear oral arguments in December. Justice Amy Coney Barrett joined more-liberal justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson in saying they would have granted the request. This month, the Justice Department asked the court for an emergency stay after lower-court rulings. The administration asked that, at a minimum, the ruling take effect only in Texas and Louisiana, the two states that brought the legal challenge. The guidelines, issued by Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas in September, were part of the Biden administration’s effort to move away from former President Trump’s more aggressive approach to immigration enforcement.