The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to intervene in a lawsuit led by Texas over a federal rule that let immigration judges pause deportation proceedings. Immigration judges remain barred from pausing those cases, even when an immigrant qualifies for legal status.
The rule was revived by the Biden administration in 2024. It covered immigrants who qualify for legal status, such as through marriage to a U.S. citizen or certain visas for crime victims.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed the lawsuit on June 22 in the Northern District of Texas, in Wichita Falls. His 43-page filing argued that the rule effectively granted "indefinite amnesty to aliens illegally present in this country." U.S. District Judge Reed O'Connor ruled for Texas the same day, after the Department of Justice, under the Trump administration, said it agreed with Paxton's office.
Baltimore, New Haven, Conn., Columbus, Ohio, and Centro Legal de la Raza, an Oakland, Calif., nonprofit, challenged the ruling. They argued that Congress approved the rule. The plaintiffs said crime victims who are undocumented might stop cooperating with local police if they fear deportation.