Biden admin warns 'avalanche' of deportations could be scuttled if SCOTUS rules against them in key case

Adam Shaw / Fox News

 

The Biden administration warned Supreme Court justices on Monday that hundreds of thousands of deportation cases could be reset and sent back into the immigration system if the justices rules against the administration on a key case regarding the use of immigration notices.

The remarks came during oral arguments in a case related to Notices to Appear (NTA) — orders given to illegal immigrants before they are released into the interior to appear before an immigration court. However, sometimes those documents when issued do not include a court date and only say "TBD." A separate court date is later mailed to the illegal immigrant in those instances.

If the immigrant does not turn up for that hearing, they can be ordered deported "in absentia." The case focused initially on an El Salvadoran illegal immigrant who was given an NTA in 2005, and months later was mailed a court date, but says he didn’t receive it. The case has been joined by two other illegal immigrants with similar situations. 

The lawyers for the illegal immigrants represented argue that the two separate mailings do not count as proper notice as dictated by statute. Government lawyers argued that such practices do count as proper notice, and also warned...Read more and see videos here.

Who Won the Debate? Haley Struggled to Outshine DeSantis, Analysts Say

The fifth Republican presidential debate featured just two candidates and grew testy. But analysts saw little that would change the race ahead of Monday’s caucuses.

By Alan Rappeport / The New York Times

With the Iowa caucuses days away, two of the remaining Republican presidential candidates — Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley — clashed on the debate stage on Wednesday night over the economy, foreign policy and their records in their states, Florida and South Carolina.

The fifth debate this primary season once again was notable for the absence of former President Donald J. Trump, the Republican front-runner who opted instead to hold a town hall event sponsored by Fox News at the same time his rivals were facing off. It also featured a shrinking field, as Chris Christie had announced hours before the debate that he was dropping out of the race. That put added pressure on Ms. Haley to deliver a strong performance to solidify her position as Mr. Trump’s primary alternative, while Mr. DeSantis needed to jolt his sputtering campaign to maintain a foothold in the race.

Political analysts and pundits observed that the Mr. Trump continued to benefit from staying away from direct engagement with his Republican rivals, with some suggesting that he had delivered a surprisingly “cogent” performance at his event across town, while the tenor of the conversation between Mr. DeSantis and Ms. Haley often grew caustic and personal as they tiptoed around questions about Mr. Trump’s character. While Ms. Haley avoided any notable stumbles, few thought that she had managed to get the better of Mr. DeSantis.