WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to step into a legal fight over a Biden-era immigration policy that gave immigration judges authority to pause certain deportation cases.
The justices rejected an appeal from Democratic-led cities that argued the policy helped protect crime victims and neglected juveniles and should be restored.
Texas and the Trump administration agreed to a court order blocking the policy after Texas filed a lawsuit. The state contended that the use of administrative closure expanded sharply under former President Joe Biden, effectively allowing some immigrants to remain in the United States indefinitely.
Baltimore, Columbus, Ohio, and New Haven, Connecticut, joined the legal group Centro Legal de la Raza in seeking to defend the regulation. After a judge denied their request to intervene, the cities and group filed an emergency appeal with the Supreme Court.
Represented by Democracy Forward, they argued that Texas and the Trump administration had coordinated to secure a permanent court block on the regulation while avoiding the public rulemaking process.
The Justice Department urged the justices to reject the appeal, arguing that the cities lacked legal standing to challenge the settlement and had not demonstrated that they faced immediate legal harm.
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