Supreme Court to hear arguments over Biden immigration laws

Nov. 29 (UPI) -- On Tuesday the Supreme Court will hear arguments over the Biden administration's efforts to set immigration laws by focusing on public safety threats.

President Joe Biden's plan attempts to set guidelines for whom immigration authorities can target for arrest and deportation. The administration argued that with an estimated 11 million immigrants in the U.S. illegally, the government has to prioritize certain cases because it does not have the resources to detain and deport all of them.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas issued the new directives last year that ordered officials to use "discretionary authority" to prioritize arresting immigrants who "pose a threat to national security, public safety and border security."

Texas and Louisiana challenged the plan in court, arguing that federal immigration law requires certain illegal immigrants to be detained after they are released from criminal custody.

In June a Texas federal judge blocked the policy nationwide, saying that Texas had standing because it could show that immigrants who should have been detained were in Texas and in some cases had committed crimes.

The Supreme Court voted 5-4 in July to reject the Biden administration's request to immediately restore the policy but agreed to hear oral arguments.

The Biden administration has argued that the president has broad discretion to set enforcement priorities.

"A cop doesn't pull over every speeder on the highway," Jeremy McKinney, the president of American Immigration Lawyers Association, told NPR. "So you have to make choices. All that the Biden administration was attempting to do was make choices, just like every administration before it."

A ruling is due by the end of June.