A federal judge limited the use of the new Joe Biden administration rule that establishes certain priorities when deporting immigrants, and ordered that agents only take the criteria into account in certain decisions.
The new rule, which took effect in November, states that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) must focus on the arrest and removal of those with serious criminal histories or who pose a threat to public security and those who have recently crossed the border and do not have roots in the country.
The directive seeks to ensure that immigrants are not persecuted "just for being undocumented," according to what the Secretary of National Security, Alejandro Mayorkas, said at the time.
But a federal judge, Michael Newman, ruled in favor of a lawsuit brought by three states with Republican leaders, Arizona, Montana and Ohio, and
partially annulled the rule
, indicating certain decisions in the application of the law belong to Congress.
Newman admits that the Department of Homeland Security has discretion in deciding who to deport, but says the new rule violates mandatory detention laws.
Thus, priorities cannot be used in certain cases of migrants who are already detained and have removal orders.
[A Trump rule that expanded express deportation is nullified]
Those most affected by the judge's decision are some of the migrants who are already detained. Gerald Herbert / AP
“In the end, that is what this dispute is about: can the Executive displace the clear command of Congress in the name of resource allocation and compliance objectives?
Here, the answer is no,” wrote the judge, who was appointed by former President Donald Trump.
Who is affected by the ruling
The rule established by Biden gives agents greater discretion to weigh aspects such as community and family ties, age, mental health and how long the migrants had been in the US before making a decision.
The goal is to focus resources on the most dangerous immigrants and those with the least time in the country or connection to the local community.
With the new ruling by the federal judge, ICE agents can still use these priorities to decide when to start a deportation process and when to manage and close or terminate cases, among other determinations, with which the
new rule can still benefit A large part of the estimated eleven million undocumented immigrants
live in the United States.
But agents will not be able to use the Biden rule in favor of certain migrants who are in mandatory detention.
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Attorney Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, senior policy adviser for the American Immigration Council, said in an analysis of the ruling that the new rules are not used in the first place to make decisions in cases of detained migrants with criminal records.
The ruling indicates that, second, priorities cannot be used to "authorize the release, whether on bail, supervision or otherwise, of a non-citizen with a final order of removal."
[ICE Deportations Drop to All-Time Low]
Finally, the criteria are not used to "delay, continue or suspend" an already issued deportation order, which affects people detained in the 90-day period that ICE has to remove them from the country, explains Reichlin-Melnick.
The lawyer pointed out that asylum seekers who are in detention and those migrants who are eligible for a bond would not be affected.