US Supreme Court to Hear Fight Over Biden Immigration Enforcement Policy

Facts

• The US Supreme Court will revisit a long-running dispute over the Biden administration's enforcement of immigration guidelines, four months after it was temporarily blocked.
• Pres. Biden's policy would see the Dept. of Homeland Security (DHS) focus deportations on immigrants it believes pose a threat to national security or public safety, or those who have recently crossed the border.
• Texas and Louisiana sued over the guidelines, arguing that they ran counter, "to provisions in federal immigration law that make it mandatory to detain non-U.S. citizens who have been convicted of certain crimes or have final orders of removal."
• A federal district court in Texas sided with the states and halted the policy's enforcement. Biden then filed an emergency request, but a 5-4 majority of the court declined Biden's request, barring his ability to carry out the policy. The court's three liberal justices were joined by conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who stated that they would have granted the Biden administration's request.
• Despite the Supreme Court rejecting to reverse the hold, the justices agreed to hear oral arguments on Tuesday. This will shift the case off of the emergency docket, and see the court delve more into the merits of the legal questions at issue.

Sources: NPR Online News, USA Today, Reuters, and Texas Signal.

Narratives

• Democratic narrative, as provided by Vox. It's essential to understand that of the 11.3M undocumented people in the US, Congress has only appointed enough resources to remove around 400k annually. Biden's guidelines systematically prioritize, by targeting only the most dangerous with the small number of funds granted to him. The fact that Justice Amy Cooney Barrett is siding with her liberal peers on this case shows the even Conservatives believe the Texas Judge was wrong to rule against Biden.
• Republican narrative, as provided by Fox News. Fewer detentions and deportations only encourage illegal aliens to cross the border in increasing numbers. The US is currently facing a major immigration crisis that COVID-19 and the Biden administration have only exacerbated. In order to maintain a safe border, the DHS cannot focus on specific aliens over others — the crisis at the US border must be rigorously addressed.