A recent unanimous ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court may significantly impact the challenges to a federal deportation plan anticipated under the incoming Trump administration. This ruling stems from a case involving a visa application submitted by an American citizen for her noncitizen husband, who is a Palestinian, seeking permanent legal residency.
According to immigration law, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is mandated to approve a visa petition if it can be confirmed that the petition is truthful and the noncitizen is legally married to the petitioner. However, if the noncitizen has previously engaged in a marriage deemed a sham to bypass immigration laws, known as the “sham-marriage bar,” USCIS is obliged to deny the petition.
The initial approval of the couple’s petition was later revoked following USCIS’s claims of evidence suggesting the husband had previously participated in such a marriage. Both the couple and the Board of Immigration Appeals affirmed this decision, leading them to seek legal recourse. A federal district court dismissed their case, citing the lack of jurisdiction over certain agency decisions. An appeal to the Eleventh Circuit upheld this dismissal before the matter reached the Supreme Court, which voted 9-0 to support the lower court rulings.
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson pointed out in the Supreme Court’s decision that the law grants the Secretary of Homeland Security broad discretion to revoke visa petitions as deemed necessary, a point Congress did not restrict.
This ruling follows a recent Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision stating that the federal government has the authority to deport illegal foreign nationals, even against local authorities’ wishes. Furthermore, the Supreme Court had previously ruled in favor of federal deportation policies in similar cases earlier this year, establishing a clear legal framework amid conflicting circuit rulings.
The lawsuits involved illegal foreign nationals classified as “inadmissible” who were issued Notices to Appear (NTA) in immigration court but failed to attend their hearings. The Supreme Court ruled against these individuals, affirming their deportation based on federal laws that govern these processes.
This Supreme Court ruling sets a significant precedent for future immigration cases as the Trump administration prepares to implement its deportation strategies, which aim to reverse policies set forth by the previous administration regarding the release of millions of illegal foreign nationals into the country. The ruling could potentially influence approximately 200,000 deportation cases previously dismissed due to procedural failures by the Department of Homeland Security.