Merrick Garland as Attorney General: What Does it Mean for Immigration?
avatar By Preston Huennekens January 7, 2021 No Comments
On January 6, President-elect Joe Biden announced that he tapped D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals judge Merrick Garland for the role of Attorney General, the position that leads the Department of Justice. Merrick Garland is perhaps most famous for being President Barack Obama’s final nominee to fill a vacancy on the Supreme Court. The Republican-controlled Senate blocked his nomination by refusing to hold hearings, and his nomination expired when Donald Trump became president.
As Attorney General, Garland will have an incredible degree of control and influence over immigration law. The immigration courts – the Executive Office for Immigration Review – are a subordinate agency of the Justice Department. Efforts to stop the growth of the number of sanctuary cities largely falls to the Attorney General through the use of federal grants, and it is hard to think that Garland would continue the Trump Administration’s use of the Justice Department to crack down on those states and localities that ignore immigration law. Further, and perhaps most consequential, any codification or reissuance of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) executive amnesty would begin with action from Garland and the Justice Department.
https://www.immigrationreform.com/2021/01/07/merrick-garland-tapped-attorney-general-immigrationreform-com/
