Deportation Just Became Less Likely

Talk of President Barack Obama’s immigration initiative has slowed now that the program is stalled in court, and may not be implemented until the end of his term, if at all. But this week, the Supreme Court decided an immigration case, Mellouli v. Lynch, that has meaningful implications for potential deportees convicted of crimes. The case made few headlines, because its consequences weren’t obvious to nonspecialists. Nevertheless, on close reading, the case matters -- and it raises important questions about how the U.S. decides whom to deport.

If you heard of the Mellouli case, it was probably because of the strange facts. Moones Mellouli, a Tunisian-born lawful permanent resident, was on the surface a model immigrant who graduated magna cum laude from a U.S. college, earned master’s degrees in mathematics and economics, and taught mathematics classes at the University of Missouri.