Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/19pdf/18-587_5ifl.pdf
Page Number: 47.0

Cite as:  591 U. S. ____ (2020) 

9 

Opinion of THOMAS, J. 

This  conclusion  should  begin  and  end  our  review.    The 
decision to rescind an unlawful agency action is per se law-
ful.  No additional policy justifications or considerations are 
necessary.  And,  the  majority’s  contrary  holding—that  an
agency is not only permitted, but required, to continue an 
ultra vires action—has no basis in law. 

A 
Congress has not authorized DHS to reclassify an entire
class of removable aliens as lawfully present or to categori-
cally exempt aliens from statutory removal provisions. 

1 
I begin with lawful presence.  As just stated, nothing in
the  federal  immigration  laws  expressly  delegates  to  DHS
the  unfettered  discretion  to  create  new  categories  of  law-
fully present aliens.  And, there is no basis for concluding 
that Congress implicitly delegated to DHS the power to re-
classify categories of aliens as lawfully present.  The immi-
gration  statutes  provide  numerous  ways  to  obtain  lawful
presence, both temporary and permanent.  The highly de-
tailed  nature  of  these  provisions  indicates  that  Congress
has exhaustively provided for all of the ways that it thought 
lawful presence should be obtainable, leaving no discretion 
to DHS to add new pathways.

For  example,  federal  immigration  laws  provide  over  60
temporary  nonimmigrant  visa  options,  including  visas  for 
ambassadors, full-time students and their spouses and chil-
dren, those engaged to marry a United States citizen within 
90 days of arrival, athletes and performers, and aliens with 
specialized  knowledge  related  to  their  employers.    See 
§§1101(a)(15)(A)–(V), 1184; 8 CFR §214.1; see also Congres-
sional Research Service, J. Wilson, Nonimmigrant and Im-
migrant Visa Categories: Data Brief 1–6 (2019) (Table 1). 
In  addition,  the  statutes  permit  the  Attorney  General  to
grant temporary “parole” into the United States “for urgent