Category: Immigration

Mixed Ruling in El Salvador Case

by · Apr 11, 2025 12:03 pm

Yesterday, the U.S. Supreme Court issued an order partly granting and partly denying the Department of Homeland Security’s application in the case of the deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia to El Salvador, noted in this post Monday. Here is the dispositive paragraph:

The application is granted in part and denied in part, subject to the direction of this order. Due to the administrative stay issued by The Chief Justice, the deadline imposed by the District Court has now passed. To that extent, the Government’s emergency application is effectively granted in part and the deadline in the challenged order is no longer effective. The rest of the District Court’s order remains in effect but requires clarification on remand. The order properly requires the Government to “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s release from custody in El Salvador and to ensure that his case is handled as it would have been had he not been improperly sent to El Salvador. The intended scope of the term “effectuate” in the District Court’s order is, however, unclear, and may exceed the District Court’s authority. The District Court should clarify its directive, with due regard for the deference owed to the Executive Branch in the conduct of foreign affairs. For its part, the Government should be prepared to  share what it can concerning the steps it has taken and the prospect of further steps. The order heretofore entered by The Chief Justice is vacated.

Continue reading . . .

Venezuelan Gang Case Must Proceed in Habeas Corpus

by · Apr 7, 2025 5:39 pm

The U.S. Supreme Court has resolved the case of deportation of Venezuelans alleged to be members of the Tren de Aragua gang, just as I said in this post on March 26. The case that arrived in the Supreme Court is the wrong type of case, filed in the wrong court, and the high court vacated it. This case must proceed in habeas corpus, and it must be brought in the district where the petitioners are detained, which is in Texas.

The opinion is here. Continue reading . . .

Supreme Court Grants Stay of Injunction for Return of Alien

by · Apr 7, 2025 4:20 pm

The United States has sought Supreme Court review of an order of a federal district court ordering the Government to effect the return of an alien who has already been deported and is in the custody of a foreign government. The Solicitor General’s application in Noem v. Abrego Garcia, 24A949, notes the unprecedented nature of an order “dictating to the United States that it must not only negotiate with a foreign country to return an enemy alien on foreign soil, but also succeed by 11:59 p.m. tonight.” The Chief Justice stayed the district court’s order and ordered a response by tomorrow. Continue reading . . .

Four Illegals Arrested in Sanctuary City For Human Trafficking

by · Mar 5, 2025 11:14 am

Federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) reports that its agents arrested the head of a Guatemalan human trafficking ring that smuggled an estimated 20,000 illegal aliens into the United States from 2019 to 2024.  At a press conference in the sanctuary city of Los Angeles last Monday, acting U.S. Attorney Joseph McNally told reporters that Guatemalan illegal alien, Eduardo Domingo Renoj-Matul, was arrested in the LA neighborhood of Westlake. He was the leader of one of the largest transnational smuggling cartels in the U.S.  Renoj-Matul and his three lieutenants, all illegals from Guatemala, charged between $15,000 and $18,000 to smuggle men, women and children into the U.S. and held most of them in stash houses in Los Angeles. While Renoj-Matul and two of his lieutenants were arrested in LA, a fourth gang member, a driver for the gang, was arrested in Oklahoma where he is facing charges for a November 2023 car crash which killed seven illegals including a four-year-old child.

Continue reading . . .

Immigration Enforcement, the Laken Riley Act, and State Standing

by · Jan 11, 2025 10:08 am

The House of Representatives has passed the Laken Riley Act by a whopping 264-159. The bill may set up a constitutional showdown on the question of the standing of states to sue federal officials for failure to enforce federal law, but not any time soon.

The bill adds theft offenses to the crimes for which aliens may be taken into custody. In addition, though, it grants standing to state attorneys general to sue the Secretary of Homeland Security for a variety of failures to enforce several immigration laws. Can Congress do that? Continue reading . . .

Supreme Court Takes Up Drug Smuggler Deportation Case

by · Nov 4, 2024 9:11 am

The U. S. Supreme Court issued an orders list today, taking up one case, Riley v. Garland, No. 23-1270. Pierre Riley is a citizen of Jamaica, caught eight years ago smuggling over a metric ton of marijuana. Upon his release from prison, the immigration authorities began deportation on the ground that he had committed an aggravated felony.

An immigration judge granted Riley’s application for asylum, but the Government appealed to the Board of Immigration Appeals, which reversed and reinstated the deportation order.

The case involves technical questions regarding the jurisdiction and timing for a federal court of appeals to review immigration decisions. Continue reading . . .

Supreme Court Narrows and Upholds Illegal Immigration Encouragement Law

by · Jun 23, 2023 8:00 am

The U.S. Supreme Court today decided United States v. Hansen, No. 22-179. The first paragraph of Justice Barrett’s opinion for the Court summarizes the decision well:

A federal law prohibits “encourag[ing] or induc[ing]” illegal immigration. 8 U. S. C. §1324(a)(1)(A)(iv). After concluding that this statute criminalizes immigration advocacy and other protected speech, the Ninth Circuit held it unconstitutionally overbroad under the First Amendment. That was error. Properly interpreted, this provision forbids only the intentional solicitation or facilitation of certain unlawful acts. It does not “prohibi[t] a substantial amount of protected speech”—let alone enough to justify throwing out the law’s “plainly legitimate sweep.” United States v. Williams, 553 U. S. 285, 292 (2008). We reverse. Continue reading . . .

Obstruction of Justice and Deportation

by · Jun 22, 2023 7:24 am

The U.S. Supreme Court this morning decided the “crimigration” case of Pugin v. Garland, No. 22-23. Among the many crimes that aliens can be deported for committing are offenses “relating to the obstruction of justice.” Does that term require that an investigation be pending, or can it include dissuading a witness from even reporting a crime?

The Fourth and Ninth Circuits went opposite ways on this question, and the Supreme Court took up both cases to resolve it. Continue reading . . .

Inducing Illegal Actions and Freedom of Speech

by · Dec 12, 2022 8:52 am

The U.S. Supreme Court has taken up the case of United States v. Hansen, No 22-179, for full briefing and argument. Here is the Question Presented, as phrased by the Solicitor General:

Whether the federal criminal prohibition against encouraging or inducing unlawful immigration for commercial advantage or private financial gain, in violation of 8 U.S.C. 1324(a)(1)(A)(iv) and (B)(i), is facially unconstitutional on First Amendment overbreadth grounds.

The answer would seem to be a clear “no,” but the Ninth Circuit held to the contrary. Continue reading . . .