Supreme Court limits review of factual disputes in immigration cases

By Ariane de Vogue, CNN Supreme Court Reporter

The Supreme Court has ruled against a Georgia man who has spent decades in the US and faces deportation after checking the wrong box on a driver’s license application.

The ruling made it more difficult for non-citizens who are in removal proceedings to get a federal court to review factual determinations that were made by an immigration court concerning relief from deportation.

Justice Amy Coney Barrett wrote the decision for 5-4 court. Conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote the dissent for himself with the three liberal justices.

Pankajkumar S. Patel, a citizen of India, entered the US unlawfully in 1992 and was seeking to become a lawful permanent resident. In 2008, while his petition to adjust his status was pending, he checked a box on a driver’s license renewal application falsely maintaining that he was a US citizen. He was later charged with making a false statement.

Although the charges against him were dropped, the Department of Homeland Security ultimately placed him, his wife and one of his sons in removal proceedings. He lost his case before an immigration judge in a decision that was upheld by the Board of Immigration Appeals that said he had not shown that his decision to check the box was an innocent mistake.

He appealed to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, but the court said it did not have jurisdiction to hear the claim.

This story is breaking and will be updated.

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