Supreme Court weighs green card deportation case — and a win for immigrants could make things worse

Green card holders who travel abroad and return to the U.S. with a criminal record may find themselves in a legal trap — and a Supreme Court ruling meant to help them could actually make things worse.

The justices heard arguments Wednesday in a case that immigration advocates have called a “sleeping giant,” particularly under President Trump’s aggressive immigration enforcement push.

At issue is whether the government can place returning legal permanent residents into “parole” — a legal limbo short of formal admission — rather than letting them back in outright. Under parole status, a green card holder’s actual card is confiscated and replaced with a document that signals tentative legal standing, which lawyers say makes employers reluctant to hire them.

But here’s the twist several justices flagged: if the government loses the ability to use parole in these cases, it might simply detain every returning green card holder it has questions about — holding them until a final ruling is reached.

“This person had a green card and they’re supposed to be let in,” said Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, a Biden appointee. But she also worried that unchecked parole authority could be used to suppress immigration broadly.

The case involves Muk Choi Lau, a Chinese national and U.S. green card holder charged with counterfeiting in New Jersey. A federal appeals court ruled DHS should have decided his admissibility at the airport — not deferred the decision.

The Supreme Court’s ruling could affect thousands of legal residents.

Read more:

• Supreme Court ponders deporting green card holders