Oral arguments are scheduled to be heard before the U.S. Supreme this month in a case brought by Texas and Louisiana over the Department of Homeland Security altering policy to prohibit certain violent criminal foreign nationals from being detained and deported and instead releasing them into the United States.
Ahead of oral arguments, Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a brief with the court arguing, “Congress did not set agencies free to disregard legislative direction in the statutory scheme that the agency administers.”
The case addresses three key questions. The first is whether Texas and Louisiana have Article III standing to challenge guidelines issued by DHS that alter enforcement of civil immigration law. The second pertains to whether the guidelines conflict with U.S. immigration statutes 8 U.S.C. § 1226(c) or 8 U.S.C. § 1231(a) and if they violate the Administrative Procedure Act. The third pertains to whether 8 U.S.C. § 1252(f)(1) prevents the entry of an order to “hold unlawful and set aside” the guidelines under 5 U.S.C. § 706(2)….