President Donald Trump called on Congress on Tuesday to "close loopholes that block the removal of dangerous criminal aliens, including aggravated felons" after the Supreme Court ruled a federal law making it easier to deport convicted immigrants was too vague to be enforced.
"This is a public safety crisis that can only be fixed by Congress," Trump said in a pair of tweets. "Keep America safe."
Trump appointee Neil Gorsuch joined the court's liberal justices in a 5-4 decision in ruling against a catchall provision of immigration law that defines what makes a crime violent.
In writing for the court, Justice Elena Kagan said that conviction for a crime of violence makes deportation "a virtual certainty" for an immigrant, no matter how long he has lived in the United States, thus making the law too vague to be enforced.
The court's four conservative judges dissented.
Gorsuch did not join Kagan's opinion, however, but wrote "no one should be surprised that the Constitution looks unkindly on any law so vague that reasonable people cannot understand its terms and judges do not know where to begin in applying it."
The decision was a loss for the Trump administration, which has tightened enforcement of the nation's immigration laws.
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