Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/20pdf/20-315_q713.pdf
Page Number: 10

8 

SANCHEZ v. MAYORKAS 

Opinion of the Court 

“U”  nonimmigrants  eligible  for  LPR  status  if  they  were 
either “admitted into the United States” or “otherwise pro-
vided  nonimmigrant  status.”  §1255(m)(1).  There  could 
scarcely  be  a  plainer  statement  of  the  daylight  between
nonimmigrant status and admission (except maybe for the
alien crewmen provision).  And that plain statement comes
in a provision expressly enabling some unlawful entrants to
adjust to LPR status.  So when Congress does not speak in
that  manner—when  it  confers  status,  but  says  nothing 
about admission, for purposes of §1255—we have no basis 
for ruling an unlawful entrant eligible to become an LPR.

Sanchez  objects  that  if  the  TPS  provision  confers  only
nonimmigrant  status  for  §1255,  it  accomplishes  precious 
little.  See Reply Brief 11–13; Tr. of Oral Arg. 27.  Less than 
he  would  like,  of  course:  It  would not  make  him,  or other 
TPS recipients who entered the country unlawfully, LPR-
eligible.  But some TPS recipients will benefit from the TPS 
provision’s conferral of nonimmigrant status for purposes of 
§1255.  Recall  that  the  provision  gives  all  TPS  recipients
the  status  typically  required  to  invoke  §1255—that  is, 
nonimmigrant status.  See supra, at 5.  Some TPS recipi-
ents need exactly that assistance—without needing a con-
structive  admission.  Consider,  for  example,  a  foreign  na-
tional who entered the country legally on a tourist visa, but 
stayed on for several months after the visa’s expiration.  He 
can satisfy §1255’s requirement of admission, but he found-
ers  in  showing  nonimmigrant  status.    The  TPS  provision
relieves that difficulty and enables him to become an LPR.
Congress,  of  course,  could  have  gone  further,  by  deeming
TPS  recipients  to  have  not  only  nonimmigrant  status  but 
also a lawful admission.  Legislation pending in Congress 
would do just that.  See American Dream and Promise Act 
of 2021, H. R. 6, 117th Cong., 1st Sess., §203, p. 29 (intro-
duced Mar. 3, 2021) (amending §1254a(f)(4) so that a TPS 
recipient shall be considered “as having been inspected and