The Supreme Court declined to review United States v. California, No. 19-532. As a result, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruling stands, allowing California’s sanctuary policy to remain in effect. The lower court ruling stated that the policy “may well frustrate the federal government’s immigration enforcement efforts… [But] whatever the wisdom of the underlying policy adopted by California, that frustration is permissible, because California has the right.”
The Trump administration petitioned the Supreme Court for review of the lower court ruling, arguing that sanctuary policies conflicted with federal law and posed a public safety risk. The petition stated, “When officers are unable to arrest aliens — often criminal aliens — who are in removal proceedings or have been ordered removed from the United States, those aliens instead return to the community, where criminal aliens are disproportionately likely to commit crimes.”