The Supreme Court is hearing oral arguments Tuesday in a case that could enable former President Donald Trump additional latitude to carry out his plan of mass deportations of illegal immigrants should he win the presidency in November, the Washington Examiner first reported.
The high court is considering Bouarfa v. Mayorkas, a case involving whether federal courts can review decisions made by immigration agencies to revoke a visa petition.
If ruled in the affirmative, the decision will reverberate throughout the immigration legal system making it harder for immigrants to contest decisions regarding their ability to remain in the country.
The case centers on Amina Bouarfa, a U.S. citizen, and her husband Ala'a Hamayel, whose visa petition was revoked after immigration officials claimed he had entered into a fraudulent marriage with his ex-wife to obtain legal residency.
"This is a technical dispute over whether courts can review the government's decision to revoke an immigrant visa on the ground that it had initially misapplied nondiscretionary criteria," Georgetown University law professor Steve Vladeck said in his Substack newsletter One First and reported by the outlet.
After Bouarfa's appeals were denied, lower courts ruled that the revocation decision was discretionary by immigration officials and thus immune from judicial review. If the Supreme Court upholds the lower court's decision, federal courts may be unable to review similar cases causing concern among immigration advocates.
The ACLU filed an amicus brief in September arguing that blocking judicial review would prevent courts from addressing clear constitutional violations.
"This case has potentially devastating consequences for noncitizens and their families. If the Court adopts the government's sweeping argument, it will slam the courthouse door shut in many cases. Immigration agencies are overburdened and serious mistakes by agencies happen. Noncitizens and their families have long relied upon courts to correct those mistakes," the brief stated.
Trump has long positioned himself as a border hawk and has promised he will conduct a mass deportation of illegal immigrants if he is elected to a second term in the White House.
"We're going to have the largest deportation in the history of our country," Trump said last month during a speech in Los Angeles, California. "And we're going to start with Springfield, [Ohio] and Aurora, [Colorado]."
The issue of immigration has risen to a top campaign issue this election cycle. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) data indicate more than 7 million illegal border crossers have been apprehended on the U.S. southern border since President Joe Biden took office in January 2021.