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U.S. Supreme Court to hear argument on Biden immigration enforcement policy
U.S. Supreme Court to hear argument on Biden immigration enforcement policy
The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday is set to consider whether President Joe Biden’s administration can implement guidelines challenged by two conservative-leaning states of shifting immigration enforcement toward public safety threats.
This the court said in a case testing executive branch power to set enforcement priorities.
The justices will hear the administration’s bid to overturn a judge’s ruling in favor of Texas and Louisiana that vacated U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) guidelines narrowing the scope of those who can be targeted by immigration agents for arrest and deportation.
The Democratic president’s policy departed from the hard-line approach of his Republican predecessor, Donald Trump, who sought to broaden the range of immigrants subject to arrest and removal.
Biden campaigned on a more humane approach to immigration but has been faced with large numbers of migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border.
The guidelines, announced by Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas in September 2021, prioritised apprehending and deporting non-U.S. citizens who pose a threat to national security, public safety or border security.
In a memo, Mayorkas called the guidelines necessary because his department lacks the resources to apprehend and seek the removal of every one of the estimated 11 million immigrants living in the United States illegally.
Mayorkas cited the longstanding practice of government officials exercising discretion to decide who should be subject to deportation and said that a majority of immigrants subject to deportation “have been contributing members of our communities for years.’’
Biden’s administration, saying fewer detentions and deportations have encouraged more illegal border crossings.
The top Republican in the U.S. House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy, earlier called on Mayorkas to step down and said the House may try to impeach him when Republicans formally take control of the chamber in January.
Republican state attorneys general in Texas and Louisiana sued to block the guidelines after Republican-led legal challenges successfully thwarted other Biden administration attempts to ease enforcement.
Their lawsuit, filed in Texas, argued that the guidelines ran counter to provisions in immigration laws that makes it mandatory to detain non-U.S. citizens who have been convicted of certain crimes or have final orders of removal.
U.S. District Judge Drew Tipton, a Trump appointee, ruled in favor of the challengers, finding that while immigration agents could on a case-by-case basis act with discretion the administration’s guidelines were a generalised policy that contravened the detention mandate set out by Congress.
“Whatever the outer limits of its authority, the executive branch does not have the authority to change the law,’’ Tipton wrote.
After the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in July declined to put that ruling on hold, Biden’s administration turned to the Supreme Court.
The justices on a 5-4 vote declined to stay Tipton’s ruling, with conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett joining liberal justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson in dissent. The justices did not provide reasons for their disagreement.
Biden’s administration has told the Supreme Court that Texas and Louisiana lack the proper legal standing to challenge the guidelines because the states had not suffered any direct harm as a result of the policy.
The states countered that they would be harmed by having to spend more money on law enforcement and social services as a result of an increase in non-U.S. citizens present within their borders due to the guidelines.
The administration also told the justices that the guidelines do not violate federal immigration law and that the mandatory language of those statutes does not supersede the longstanding principle of law enforcement discretion.
A decision is expected by the end of June.
News
Troops launch manhunt after assassination Alhaji Bilyaminu Julde, Fulani community leader in Plateau state
Troops launch manhunt after assassination Alhaji Bilyaminu Julde, Fulani community leader in Plateau state
By: Zagazola Makama
Troops of Operation Enduring Peace have launched a manhunt for unknown assailants who shot dead Alhaji Bilyaminu Julde, the Ardo of Gindir in Gashish area of Barkin Ladi Local Government Area of Plateau State.
A security source said the incident occurred at about 11:45 p.m. on March 28, when troops responded to reports of sporadic gunshots.
According to the source, on arrival, troops discovered that Alhaji Bilyaminu Julde, the Ardo of Gindiri, had been shot dead in his residence by unidentified gunmen who fled the scene before security operatives arrived.
The source added that troops recovered two rounds of 7.62mm special ammunition and 29 spent shells from the scene.
He said the remains of the deceased were released to the family for burial in accordance with local customs.
The source noted that investigations have commenced, while troops have intensified patrols and launched a manhunt to track down the perpetrators.
Troops launch manhunt after assassination Alhaji Bilyaminu Julde, Fulani community leader in Plateau state
Zulum Dissolves Borno State Executive Council
By: Our Reporter
Borno State Governor, Professor Babagana Umara Zulum, has approved the immediate dissolution of the State Executive Council.
The decision is to provide an enabling environment for any member of the council who may wish to contest elective positions in the forthcoming general elections.
The Governor has therefore directed all Commissioners to hand over the affairs of their respective ministries to the Permanent Secretaries on or before Friday, April 3, 2026.
Governor Zulum expressed his profound appreciation to the outgoing Commissioners for their dedication, commitment, and invaluable contributions to the development and service of the people of Borno State.
Zulum Dissolves Borno State Executive Council
How corp member Samuel Orji bowed to humanity at the recent Monday market tragedy
By: Bodunrin Kayode
Corp member Samuel Orji is not new to Monday market because he was raised in a restaurant right in front of the place as a kid because his mother used to be a food vendor to the traders within the vicinity.
Till the day of his death, he had friends and associates along the popular Ahmadu Bello way right down to Ali Kotoko Street where traders used to patronize his mother’s buka food.
But his mother have since left the town for Abuja leaving him and his brother Steve because he was still a student attending Ramat Polytechnic where he studied Electrical engineering when she left.
Having grown up in Maiduguri, he already knew that Improvised explosive devices IED could explode at any time during the day but never knew a semblance of the worse days could return to the city of yerwa.
For people who grew up in Maiduguri, the worse days are really over when everyone goes home before six pm so he was obviously rounding off his hustling that night when the explosion went off on Ahmadu Bello way which hit his legs and brought him down.
Though we all share a common humanity, living in the north east war theatre of hadin kai, we all go out each day for our daily bread not knowing what the end of the day will be like but taking each day as it comes.
Likewise, when corp member Samuel Orji left the house of his next of kin in Maduganari that fateful black Monday, he never planned not to return home, but as fate would have it, he was one of the victims that got hit by the suicide bomb explosion in front of the Monday market.
After being called up to the National Youth Service Corp (NYSC) with number NYSC/RPM/25/185709, the young Orji was still serving at the engineering department of the Nigerian television authority (NTA) Potiskum in Yobe state when he lost his life.
Orji with YB/25B/1003 now serving in Damaturu found himself in Maiduguri the weekend before that black Monday because he had taken a pass to spend the public holiday with his brother and next of kin Stephen Orji who lives in Maduganari a suburban area of Maiduguri.
Speaking with this reporter after the tragedy, Borno State coordinator of the NYSC Bashir Nasir said the entire tragedy was a shock to him after a long spell of calmness in the city.
As soon as the incident happened, he was contacted by his headquarters (HQ) in Abuja to conduct a census of his Corp members to ensure all was well and report back to them.
It was in the process that he realized that his team was fine and that the fellow that died was indeed a Corp member but was serving the nation from Damaturu and that he had died as a result of the Monday blast on Ahmadu Bello way at the entrance of the market place.
“I quickly went into action by visiting all the places I know my corp members are based. And I was sure the fellow was not serving here in Borno after the roll call.
” Later a call came from his next of kin Steve to one of our staff in Yobe who indeed linked up with us here and that was when it was ascertained that Samuel Orji was a corp member serving in Yobe.
” I then went to the home of his next of kin Stephen Orji at Maduganari and that was how we took charge by handling all the preliminary expenses to ensure he is taken home for burial.
” The Yobe axis arranged for an ambulance and staff to convey his corpse to Enugu on Monday last week for burial.
” As a result of that triple blast I had to halt routine activities of corp members in the state except the medical officers among them who were released to assist in the hospitals on the condition that management will release ambulances from them to go and return safely to their bases. ” Said the state coordinator.
Challenges of the Corp in Borno state
The main challenge is obviously tied to their security which is why they are using the Arabic Teachers secondary school as a temporary location for now.
The original location has been tendered not usable after idps used it from 2012 to 3021
However, the governor in his magnanimity has given them a new camp of one km by one Km at Auno in the outskirts of the city.
Meanwhile the coordinator who would be one year next month since he assumed duty hinted that 506 Corp members of the batch A stream one of 2005 will pass out this week on the 31st of March.
Another bold set of Corp members of the batch A stream one of 2026 will however be sworn in on the 22nd April.
How corp member Samuel Orji bowed to humanity at the recent Monday market tragedy
Troops arrest suspected gunrunner, intercept 200 rounds of ammunition in kaduna
Troops intercept vehicle conveying suspected terrorist logistics in Borno
Troops arrest another suspected terrorist logistics supplier in maiduguri
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