An order that focused resources for the arrest and deportation of immigrants who were considered a threat to public safety and national security has been suspended.
Even though it disagrees and is appealing the decision, the Department of Homeland Security will abide by it.
The suspension of Biden's order will cause fear in immigrant communities.
Steve Yale-Loehr, an immigration law professor at Cornell University, said that many people living in the country illegally will be afraid to leave their homes because of the fear of being arrested.
He said that prioritizing who to arrest and deport is necessary. "We don't have enough ICE agents to pick up and put into proceedings people who violate our immigration law."
The Texas case is related to a memo Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas issued last September directing immigration agencies to focus their enforcement efforts on those who represent a threat to national security or public safety.
When immigration agencies were given wide latitude on whom to arrest, detain and deport, many immigrants without legal status upend their daily routines to avoid detection, such as taking sanctuary in churches and other places.
Republican state officials in Texas and Louisiana argued that the Biden administration did not have the power to issue such a directive.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers will make decisions on a case-by-case basis in a way that protects against the greatest threats to the homeland, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
Advocates don't know how the ruling will play out in cities and towns.
The Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition is the largest such group in New England.
He said that some ICE offices may choose to go after a wider range of immigrants, while others will continue to focus on the most dangerous immigrants.
The centralized guidance that was taken away was taken away by this. It's left to the local field office to decide how to enforce it.
In the fiscal year that ended in September, more than 74,000 immigrants were arrested and more than 59,000 were removed from the country. ICE data shows that the number of arrests and deportations decreased from the previous fiscal year.
ICE officials in Los Angeles and Washington refused to comment on Monday, as did their Boston counterparts.
Thomas Giles, head of ICE's LA office, told The Associated Press in June that nine out of 10 immigration arrests locally involve people convicted of crimes.
The Biden administration's priorities didn't bring a huge change for the region because officers were already focused on people with felony criminal convictions
He said that they had to weigh the factors and make more detailed evaluations.
Giles said they're enhancing public safety.
That's right.
Amy Taxin is a reporter for The Associated Press.
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