Federal Judge Vacates Biden Administration’s Latest Immigration Non-Enforcement Memo
As he did for its predecessors; it would be easier and safer if DHS just enforced the law Congress wrote
By Andrew R. Arthur on June 15, 2022
On June 10, Judge Drew Tipton of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas issued an order in Texas v. U.S., vacating DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas’ latest immigration enforcement guidance, issued on September 30 and captioned “Guidelines for the Enforcement of Civil Immigration Law” (Mayorkas memo). Judge Tipton has issued a similar order about prior versions of that guidance, but this one was supposed to be bullet-proof. It isn’t, at least not yet. Enforcing the law would be easier — and safer for the American people.
The Immigration and Nationality Act and Prosecutorial Discretion. The statutory basis for almost all immigration enforcement is the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), passed in 1952 and amended more than 100 times since.
As the Supreme Court has explained:
Policies pertaining to the entry of aliens and their right to remain here are peculiarly concerned with the political conduct of government. In the enforcement of these policies, the Executive Branch of the Government must respect the procedural safeguards of due process. But that the formulation of these policies is entrusted exclusively to Congress has become about as firmly imbedded in the legislative and judicial tissues of our body politic as any aspect of our government.
https://cis.org/Arthur/Federal-Judge-Vacates-Biden-Administrations-Latest-Immigration-NonEnforcement-Memo
