US Supreme Court upholds Trump administration in green card holder deportation case

The Supreme Court on Tuesday sided with the Trump administration in an immigration case dealing with the government’s power over green card holders accused of crimes.

The 6-3 decision centers on a 2012 decision by immigration officials to condition the parole of lawful permanent resident Muk Choi Lau when he returned from a short trip to China because he was accused of forgery.

Lau argued that he exceeded the officer’s authority and the decision improperly allowed the Department of Homeland Security to quickly begin deportation proceedings after he pleaded guilty to selling counterfeit clothing in New Jersey.

The Supreme Court disagreed. “Border officials did not have the burden of proving by clear and convincing evidence that Lau committed a crime involving moral turpitude,” Judge Clarence Thomas wrote in the opinion.

Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson disagreed, writing that the decision to grant Lau parole effectively condemned him to “immigration limbo” before he was convicted of any crime, she wrote.

“I fear that the court has now handed the government a massive blank check,” she wrote in a dissent joined by her two Liberal colleagues.

The decision comes as the high court considers a number of immigration-related issues against the backdrop of President Donald Trump’s sweeping crackdown on immigration, although the case began before Trump took office.

His administration has argued that suspicion of a crime is enough to parole a lawful permanent resident, also known as a green card holder. Federal lawyers urged the court to take an expansive view of executive power over immigration.

The court is also considering cases regarding Trump’s push to end birthright citizenship, potentially reviving restrictive asylum policies and ending temporary legal protections for migrants fleeing war and natural disasters in their homelands.