SCOTUS Gives Trump a Win on Deportation Procedure

The Supreme Court declined to intervene Tuesday in a dispute over a Biden-era immigration regulation that allowed immigration judges to pause some deportation proceedings. The high court turned down a request from Democratic-led cities who say the rule was used to help crime victims and neglected juveniles and should be revived, per the AP. Texas sued over the practice, called "administrative closure," saying it had expanded greatly under former President Biden and effectively allowed people to stay in the country indefinitely. The Justice Department sided with Texas in the case.

Three cities with sizable migrant populations—Baltimore; Columbus, Ohio; and New Haven, Connecticut—along with the legal group Centro Legal de la Raza, had asked to join the case to defend the regulation. They filed an emergency appeal before the Supreme Court after a judge refused to allow them to intervene. Represented by the group Democracy Forward, they argued that Texas and the Trump administration had worked together to allow the regulation to be permanently blocked in court, bypassing a public rulemaking process. The Justice Department urged the justices to deny the appeal, saying the cities had no legal standing to challenge the settlement. As is typical, the court declined to say why it rejected the appeal.