States will not be able to question the immigration measures of the US government

From now on, the federal power of the United States government in immigration policies will be above that of the states. This was recently ruled by the country’s Supreme Court, the most conservative in recent years, which, however, has supported the Biden government’s immigration guidelines. With that the legal battle waged by the republican states of Texas and Louisian is paralyzeda with the intention of challenging the measures previously established by the current president.

The reactions on such a controversial issue have not been long in coming. The Republican governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, described the Supreme Court’s decision as “scandalous” in a tweet, considering that Biden thus receives “carte blanche” in the application of immigration laws. On the government side, the Secretary of National Security, Alejandro Mayorkas, praised the decision because thanks to it it will be easier “to more effectively fulfill the law enforcement mission with the authorities and resources provided by Congress,” according to his official statement.

In a country where more than 11 million undocumented peoplethe immigration issue not only divides American society but is also one of the star points of the electoral programs of the two main parties, ahead of the 2024 presidential elections.

During the Joe Biden’s first year in office, arrests and deportations of migrants in an irregular situation decreased compared to previous years. Democrats’ policy in this area prioritized detaining and deporting non-US citizens who posed only a threat to national security, public safety, or border security, giving agents some latitude to consider individual circumstances.

In April 2022 the government published a guide with Guidelines for the Civilian Immigration Law Enforcement (ICE for its acronym in English) specifying that US laws do not endorse giving “refuge” to those who have committed acts that violate human rights in other countries. But it also establishes that the simple fact of not having papers is not a sufficient reason for detention, in contrast to the immigration policy implemented by former President Donald Trump, whereby an undocumented migrant could become a target for ICE.

The former president marked the beginning of a series of drastic measures that included the family separation policy while migrants waited to be granted asylum or deported. The intention of this was to discourage other people from crossing the border while punishing those who had already done so.

The trump administration came to separate 5,000 migrant minors of their parents and, putting Title 42 into practice, began the expulsion of tens of thousands of immigrants with the covid as a justification as they managed to cross the border. These people remained for months in precarious and dangerous conditions on the other side of the fence.

Last May 11with the end of the public health emergency decreed by the Trump administration and continued by the Biden government, the Title 42 was coming to an endbeing replaced by another rule: one that prohibits asylum for migrants who have not applied for refugee status in another country, prior to entering the United States.

At the same time, the government launched other measures such as a telephone application that allows people crowded at the border to get an appointment to enter the United States; agreements with Mexico to accept tens of thousands of deportees; pacts with migrant-sending countries such as Colombia and Panama so that they discourage them from crossing their borders and with Nicaragua, Haiti, Cuba and Venezuela so that 30.000 personas coming from these countries can enter by plane on a monthly basis.

Even so, Democrats have long been criticized by Republicans, who accuse Biden of encouraging fraudulent immigration with his actions. This, together with the latest Supreme Court ruling, will become a throwing weapon in the electoral campaign that is already preparing for the 2024 presidential elections, where Trump and Biden could see each other again as candidates for their respective parties.