Justices Back Border Officers in Dispute Over Green Card Reentry

Immigration officers may consider pending criminal charges when deciding whether to readmit green card holders into the country on temporary status, the US Supreme Court said.

In a 6-3 ruling Tuesday, the court said the Immigration and Nationality Act does not require border officers to have a conviction or confession to a crime involving moral turpitude before paroling lawful permanent residents into the country.

“We decline to read into the INA an additional clear-and-convincing-evidence burden on border officers entrusted with making ‘quick judgments on the spot’ when that burden is nowhere in the statute,” Justice Clarence Thomas wrote for the court.

The court’s three liberal justices disagreed. In a dissenting opinion, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson said the court’s holding undermined the law’s intent and the “benefits and security” Congress meant to come with a green card.

Muk Choi Lau, a Chinese national who became a lawful permanent US resident in 2007, sued to block the government from deporting him after he was convicted of third-degree trademark counterfeiting.

Lau argued the crime was too minor to qualify as grounds for deportation under the INA.

While under indictment, but prior to his conviction, Lau visited China. Upon his return, he was paroled into the country on temporary status, rather than granted readmission as a permanent resident.

Following his conviction, the Department of Homeland Security sought Lau’s removal on grounds he was inadmissible at the time he was paroled into the country. An immigration judge agreed and ordered his deportation.

The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit reversed, finding Lau shouldn’t have been paroled into the country. Tuesday’s opinion from the Supreme Court vacates that finding and sends the case back to the Second Circuit for further consideration. The justices didn’t decide whether Lau’s crime involved moral turpitude.

Immigration law typically requires green card holders to be granted reentry into the US on permanent status, with a small number of exceptions that include crimes of “moral turpitude” and certain other offenses.

The case is Blanche v. Lau, U.S., No. 25-429, decided on 6/23/26.