Miller Mayer immigration attorney Steve Yale-Loehr was quoted by CBS News in “Republican States’ Lawsuits Derail Biden’s Major Immigration Policy Changes.” Steve said federal policymaking on immigration is now primarily dictated by federal courts, not Congress or the executive branch. “I think every major policy initiative by Biden that they plan to roll out in the next year is going to be certainly challenged in the courts, and the conservative states have done a good job of judge-shopping to find judges that are likely to agree with these conservative states,” he said, noting that he expects lawsuits will continue to shape federal immigration policy unless Congress inhibits the power of judges to block nationwide initiatives or passes a broad reform of the U.S. immigration system, a prospect that has remained elusive for decades amid intense partisanship. However, he said, “that’s not the way our government is supposed to run,” and the role of the federal court system should be limited to determining whether the actions of the president and Congress are lawful and constitutional. “From the American public’s perspective, when people disagree with a policy, theoretically they can vote that person out of office, whether it’s a member of Congress or the president. But when the judges are making a policy decision that the public disagrees with, they cannot vote that judge out of office,” he noted. Find the article here.
Steve was quoted by the Voice of America about the Department of State’s 2022 Trafficking in Persons Report. Click here to watch the video interview, which is in Russian. Click on CC and select English to see Steve’s comments subtitled in English. Steve said that human trafficking is a huge and growing problem worldwide, affecting about 25 million people per year. The report can be found here.