Sanchez v. Mayorkas
Headline: Ruling limits path to permanent residency by holding that Temporary Protected Status does not count as lawful entry, blocking unlawfully arrived TPS holders from becoming permanent residents without separate lawful admission.
Holding: The Court ruled that receiving Temporary Protected Status does not make someone who entered the United States unlawfully eligible for permanent resident status under the law that adjusts nonimmigrants to permanent residents.
- Blocks TPS holders who entered unlawfully from using TPS alone to become permanent residents.
- Leaves some TPS recipients able to adjust if they were lawfully admitted earlier.
- Allows Congress to change eligibility only by amending the law.
Summary
Background
Jose Santos Sanchez is an El Salvadoran who entered the United States without inspection in 1997, later received Temporary Protected Status (TPS) in 2001 after deadly earthquakes, and applied in 2014 to become a lawful permanent resident (a permanent resident). The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services denied his application because he never entered the country lawfully. A district court sided with Sanchez, but the Third Circuit reversed, and the Supreme Court agreed to decide the dispute.
Reasoning
The Court considered whether TPS alone makes someone who entered unlawfully eligible to become a permanent resident under the law that lets temporary visitors adjust to permanent status. The justices explained that that law requires an "admission," meaning a lawful entry after inspection and authorization. TPS gives a person lawful temporary status as a nonimmigrant for the adjustment process, but it does not treat them as having been admitted. The Court pointed out examples where people have nonimmigrant status without admission, showing the two concepts are distinct, and therefore TPS does not erase the disqualifying effect of an unlawful entry.
Real world impact
The decision means people who came into the country unlawfully and later received TPS cannot, solely because of TPS, use that status to become permanent residents under the adjustment rule. Some TPS holders who already entered lawfully or who otherwise meet the admission requirement remain able to adjust. Congress could change the rule by amending the statute, but the Court said it was bound to apply the law as written.
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