A New Supreme Court Decision Has Open Borders Advocates Seeing Red

It’s June, and that means that we’ll be getting a trickling out of various Supreme Court decisions as the month drags on. One such decision was released today and it’s going to have the open borders advocates seeing red.

The court ruled via a surprising (at least to the layman) unanimous vote that people who entered the country illegally can not abuse temporary protective status to later try to become permanent residents.

SCOTUS rules 9-0 against non-citizens who entered the U.S. without authorization in the 1990s, were allowed to remain in the country for humanitarian reasons under the "temporary protected status" program, and now seek green cards under the "adjustment of status" process.

— SCOTUSblog (@SCOTUSblog) June 7, 2021

Here is the opinion in Sanchez v. Mayorkas: https://t.co/OS0a3MTH4N

— SCOTUSblog (@SCOTUSblog) June 7, 2021

This is a necessary decision because once you reward illegal entry, you are throwing incentives out there for people to keep breaking our laws. That’s a lesson being learned the hard way by way of our current immigration crisis. While this certainly doesn’t close all the loopholes, it’s one that’s been routinely abused and doesn’t need to exist. Temporary protective status itself has become controversial precisely because it never seems to be temporary.

We should help people where we can, but the country’s laws should not then be broken and taken advantage of in response. If someone came here from El Salvador and received protective status in the 1990s, they should not qualify for lawful resident status today just because they were allowed to stay at the time despite entering illegally. That even the liberals on the court recognized the misapplication of law here by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals (shocker) says a lot.

Further, it was far-left Justice Elena Kagan who wrote the decision. As Kagan explains, in order to apply for legal residency, you must have been admitted to the country lawfully. It’s not really any more complicated than that.

I’m already seeing complaints that this decision is harsh, noting that the people in question have been here for decades. Immigration advocates are also rushing to get applications in before the ruling goes into effect. Despite the consternation, the law must be followed. If Congress wants the law to change, that’s on them, not on the Supreme Court to inject their own emotions into the issue.

Lastly, the U.S. government needs to overhaul the overall use of temporary protective status, setting clear guidelines for how long someone can remain. As it stands, it’s become a way for people to enter illegally, gain sanctuary, and never be expected to return home. That’s not an immigration system that works.