Like most weeks since he took office, Donald Trump is not having a great week when it comes to immigration policy. The first wound of the week was self-inflicted. After multiple weeks of everyone in the White House, including Trump himself, claiming that there was no way to bring Kilmar Abrego Garcia back to the U.S., Trump sat for an interview in which he said that he most certainly CAN bring Abrego Garcia back, he just chooses not to do so. Trump just hates, hates, hates to admit that he is anything other than all-powerful, and so he simply could not help himself. It's a fair guess, however, that there are going to be a few judges who will be very interested in what Trump had to say. Very interested, indeed.
The bigger wound, meanwhile, came courtesy of a judge that Trump himself appointed to the bench, Fernando Rodriguez Jr. of the Southern District of Texas. Rodriguez issued a 36-page opinion yesterday in which he said that the administration's use of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 is invalid, as the United States is not at war with anyone right now. The Judge backed that up with an injunction that says that the administration can continue to deport lawbreaking undocumented immigrants, consistent with the terms of the Immigration and Nationality Act, but it is barred from using the Alien Enemies Act.
Rodriguez's ruling thus significantly limits the number of people that the White House can target. This is the first time a judge has ruled directly on the applicability of the Alien Enemies Act. Undoubtedly the administration will appeal, although given that it's kind of a slam dunk, by virtue of the whole "there's no war right now" thing, the higher levels of the federal court system may decline to hear the matter.
At roughly the same time the administration was being dealt a setback by Rodriguez, it was in court trying to reverse an earlier setback. Trump (OK, probably Stephen Miller) wants to revoke the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) that allows 600,000 Venezuelans to be in the United States because it's too dangerous for them back home. Under the terms of that law, there has to be a review of conditions in [COUNTRY X] before TPS status for refugees from [COUNTRY X] can be revoked. The White House, as is usually the case, did not follow the rules, and jumped right to the finish line. So, a San Francisco judge imposed a temporary injunction, and yesterday, Team Trump asked the Supreme Court to cancel the injunction. This one should also be a slam dunk, because the rules say what they say, and the administration clearly didn't follow them. But with the Roberts Court, you just never know. (Z)