Media contact: media@asianlawcaucus.org
Asian Law Caucus Condemns Supreme Court’s Sweeping Expansion of Executive Power Over Immigration
SAN FRANCISCO – Last week the Supreme Court delivered decisions in Mullin v. Doe, Mullin v. Al Otro Lado, and Blanche v. Lau. These three decisions strip protections from green card holders, asylum seekers, and approximately one million TPS holders. In Blanche v. Lau, the Court gave border officers broad discretion over the legal status of legal permanent residents, also known as green card holders, returning home from travel abroad. Mullin v. Al Otro Lado permitted the government to further close the door on people seeking refuge and safety, many of whom have traveled long distances to arrive at the American border. And in Mullin v. Doe, the Supreme Court allowed for the Trump Administration to pursue mass deportation of TPS holders, bypassing established checks from Congress and the courts.
Asian Law Caucus, the nation’s first Asian American legal and civil rights organization, issued the following statement:
“Last week the Supreme Court handed the Trump administration nearly unchecked power to close America’s doors, to green card holders coming home, to families fleeing violence at our border, and to hundreds of thousands of Haitians, Syrians, and other immigrants who have built their lives here under protection of federal law.
Taken together, Blanche v. Lau, Mullin v. Doe and Mullin v. Al Otro Lado mark one of the most significant expansions of executive power over our immigration system in generations.These decisions were handed down with full knowledge of the hateful rhetoric President Trump has directed at Haitian other immigrant communities. The Court’s majority has proved willing to let discrimination shape immigration policy and remake our country in the process.
Asian American communities have seen this before: from the Chinese Exclusion Act to Japanese American war-time incarceration to the 2017 Muslim Ban. We also know that attacks on immigrant rights rarely stop at one community’s door. That history compels us to stand in unwavering solidarity with Haitian and Syrian TPS holders, asylum seekers, lawful permanent residents, and every family now living in heightened fear and uncertainty.
With these decisions, the Supreme Court majority expanded this President’s power over our immigration system. That makes Congress, and the voters who elect it, the last line of defense. The American people will decide in November whether to elect a Congress that will act. The Asian Law Caucus will keep fighting in the courts, and with our communities, to demand a country that honors its commitment and that protects those seeking safety and belonging here.”