COLUMBUS — The city of Columbus has joined Baltimore and New Haven, Connecticut, in asking the U.S. Supreme Court to block an agreement between the Trump administration and Texas that eliminated a key immigration court procedure.
The cities are asking the justices to stay a consent judgment that struck down a regulation allowing immigration judges to pause certain deportation proceedings while individuals pursue lawful immigration relief. Texas had challenged the regulation in a lawsuit against the Department of Justice, but the administration agreed with the state and asked a judge to invalidate it — a move U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor then made final.
In their application, the cities argue the administration’s maneuver circumvents the Administrative Procedure Act. The nonprofit legal organization Democracy Forward, which has previously sued the administration, says the process matters for survivors of violent crime, abused and neglected children, and others pursuing immigration protections — and that it helps local law enforcement secure cooperation from immigrant crime victims and witnesses.
Allowing the judgment to remain in effect threatens due process, undermines public safety, and puts vulnerable immigrants at greater risk of deportation before their applications for legal protections can be resolved, the cities argue. They are asking the Supreme Court to preserve the regulation while the courts consider their challenge.
