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Supreme Court Delivers Round of Bad News To Biden Admin On Immigration

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OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.


The U.S. Supreme Court has delivered a round of crucial decisions on immigration. The nation’s highest court ruled that illegal aliens detained for six months do not have the legal right to a bond hearing for release.

“The decision addressed two separate cases involving three illegal aliens, two of which were Mexican nationals that entered the U.S. illegally after being previously deported. After they were detained, they filed a putative class action for a bond hearing after six months of detention. The third illegal alien was from El Salvador and also reentered the country illegally after being previously deported. He also sued in Washington federal court for a bond hearing. The case was brought to the high court under the Trump administration and was inherited by the Biden administration, which continued to pursue the previous administration’s fight,” the outlet reported.

In an 8-1 ruling that brought together the conservative and liberal wings of the court, liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote that the law is silent on the point.

“Respondents sought withholding of removal under the INA based on their fear that, if returned to their countries of origin, they would face persecution or torture,” Sotomayer stated in her opinion.

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The case was brought to Court under the Trump administration and was inherited by the Biden administration, which continued to pursue the previous administration’s fight.

Biden was criticized for the move, with the American Civil Liberties Union claiming the administration was “decidedly on the wrong side of this fight.”

In an opinion by Justice Samuel Alito, the court held that the statute does bar class-wide injunctive relief, leaving open the possibility of injunctive relief for multiple named plaintiffs.

Alito wrote, “It generally prohibits lower courts from entering injunctions that order federal officials to take or to refrain from taking actions to enforce, implement, or otherwise carry out the specified statutory provisions.”

In a separate case, the Supreme Court “agreed to hear a bid by President Joe Biden’s administration to revive a federal law that makes it a criminal offense to encourage illegal immigration after it was struck down by a lower court as a violation of free speech rights.”

“The justices took up the administration’s appeal of a February ruling by the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals invalidating the law for infringing on rights guaranteed under the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment. The 9th Circuit’s ruling threw out part of the conviction of a California man, Helaman Hansen, who had been prosecuted under the law,” NBC News reported.

NBC reported:

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The federal government accused Hansen of deceiving undocumented immigrants between 2012 and 2016 by promising them that they could gain U.S. citizenship through an “adult adoption” program operated by his Sacramento-based business, Americans Helping America Chamber of Commerce.

The government said Hansen persuaded at least 471 people to join his program, charging them each up to $10,000 even though he “knew that the adult adoptions that he touted would not lead to U.S. citizenship.”

Hansen was convicted in 2017 of violating provisions of the federal law that bars inducing or encouraging noncitizens “to come to, enter, or reside” in the United States illegally, as well as mail fraud and wire fraud and was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

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On appeal, the 9th Circuit in February ruled that the encouragement law is unconstitutional because it is overly broad and criminalizes even commonplace speech that is protected by the First Amendment, such as telling undocumented immigrants, “I encourage you to reside in the United States,” or advising them about available social services.

Biden’s administration called on the nation’s highest court to take on the case, arguing that the appeals court was wrong to invalidate an “important tool for combating activities that exacerbate unlawful immigration.”

The closely-watched immigration case will be heard during the court’s current term. A ruling would be due by June 2023.

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