Supreme Court Rules Against Republicans in Immigration Case

The U.S. Supreme Court has blocked a case brought by five Republican attorneys general who wanted their states to take over defending an asylum ban introduced by the Biden administration last year.

Immigrants’ rights groups had been fighting the ban after its introduction in May 2023 that limited southwest border asylum crossings, with the federal government arguing that the rule was vital for border security after the removal of the pandemic-era Title 42 restrictions.

In February, with the ban still on hold, the Biden administration changed tactics and entered settlement proceedings with the groups, sparking concern from the Republican states.

Lead by Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach, the group wanted the right to intervene and uphold the rule, arguing that state intervention was necessary because the Homeland Security and Justice departments had “abdicated their responsibility” on illegal immigration.

A Ninth Circuit judge then halted the case (Kansas v. Mayorkas) in May 2024, arguing that they “do not have a significant protectible interest in maintaining the [Legal Pathways] Rule or in reducing immigration into the United States.”

That statement reflects other decisions across the U.S. that have upheld the federal government’s authority when it comes to immigration and border security, stemming from a 2012 Supreme Court decision on a case in Arizona.

Despite this, Republican-led states have made multiple attempts in recent years to introduce their own immigration legislation whether they are close to the southwest border or not but have been blocked in lower courts, leading to potential hearings in a much-changed Supreme Court compared to more than a decade ago.

Kansas, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and West Virginia took their case to the U.S. Supreme Court, hoping it would overrule the Ninth Circuit’s decision, but on Monday the court declined to hear the case.

The decision was welcomed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which was one of the groups to challenge the asylum ban.

“We are pleased that the Court denied review,” Lee Gelernt, deputy director of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project, told Newsweek in a statement. “States cannot intervene in litigation whenever they disagree politically with federal immigration policy.”

The May 2023 ban did not go without a replacement and in June 2024, President Joe Biden introduced an executive order that heavily restricted border crossings.

The ACLU and other groups have also sued over this effective ban, which caps crossings at 1,500 per day. Encounters have to fall below that line for 28 consecutive days for entries to resume.

Recent numbers from U.S. Customs and Border Protection have shown arrests at the border have decreased over recent months and are significantly below their height in 2022 and much of 2023.

Newsweek reached out to the Department of Homeland Security and the Kansas Attorney General’s Office for comment Tuesday afternoon via email.