After the Supreme Court ruled that states lack standing to sue President Joe Biden’s administration for not enforcing federal immigration law, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas says he will reinstate the agency’s so-called “sanctuary country” orders that shield most of the nation’s illegal aliens from arrest and deportation.
“We applaud the Supreme Court’s ruling,” Mayorkas said:
DHS looks forward to reinstituting these guidelines, which had been effectively applied by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers to focus limited resources and enforcement actions on those who pose a threat to our national security, public safety, and border security. The guidelines enable DHS to most effectively accomplish its law enforcement mission with the authorities and resources provided by Congress. [Emphasis added]
On Friday, the Supreme Court ruled in an 8-1 decision that “a citizen lacks standing to contest the policies of the prosecuting authority when he himself is neither prosecuted nor threatened with prosecution” and thus states lacked standing to sue over the orders.
Texas and Louisiana first filed suit against the Biden administration in April 2021 after DHS started imposing the orders that require Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to only prioritize arrests and deportations of illegal aliens who have been recently convicted of aggravated felonies, terrorists, or known gang members.