In an 8-1 vote, the US Supreme Court upheld the government's right to target undocumented migrants for deportation, a win for Biden and a loss for the states of Texas and Louisiana which attempted to challenge the policy. 

Louisiana and Texas filed the lawsuit after the Department of Homeland Security instructed US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to concentrate on deporting persons who "pose a threat to national security, public safety, and border security" in September 2021. 

Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar, in defense of the Biden administration, argued that the federal government has to prioritize efforts due to the lack of resources to pursue the 11 million undocumented "noncitizens" in the nation.

Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who wrote the majority opinion, labeled the lawsuit as "extraordinarily unusual", adding, "They want a federal court to order the Executive Branch to alter its arrest policies so as to make more arrests."

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"Federal courts have not traditionally entertained that kind of lawsuit," he said, explaining that if the court ruled in favor of both states, it would bring an "expansive judicial direction of the Department's arrest policies."

"We could anticipate complaints in future years about alleged Executive Branch under-enforcement of any similarly worded laws -- whether they be drug laws, gun laws, obstruction of justice laws, or the like."

Texas 'is suffering'

In November, Texas solicitor general Judd Stone claimed that prioritizing certain categories of persons for expulsion would bear costs on Texas, which borders Mexico and is an entry point for thousands of undocumented migrants. 

"Texas suffers injuries, regardless of what it does, whether it detains, releases or paroles individuals because we have not only law enforcement costs but social services costs and very serious threats of recidivism," Stone said.

This follows as Republican governor of Texas Greg Abbott has been sending immigrants to Democratic-ruled states in buses for the past few months in a show of protest against the federal government's immigration policies.

The Biden administration and the Texas state government have been sending troops to the US-Mexico border in anticipation of a spike in illegal immigration after Title 42 ended in May, which permitted border crossers to request asylum. 

In September, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said that Republican governors sending migrants to northern cities, such as New York, Washington, and Chicago, use migrants as "political pawns".

"Republican governors interfering in that [US immigration] process and using migrants as political pawns is shameful, is reckless, and just plain wrong," Jean-Pierre said during a press briefing.

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