SCOTUS rules 5-4 against illegal immigrant seeking to avoid deportation, Gorsuch writes dissent

The U.S. Supreme Court voted 5-4 on Monday to uphold a federal appellate court ruling against a man who sought to prevent his deportation after being in the United States illegally since the 1990s.

Pankajkumar Patel, who entered the U.S. illegally from India with his wife Jyotsnaben three decades ago, according to court documents, applied for discretionary adjustment of status with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) agency in 2007.

The adjustment, which would have given Patel and his wife green cards, was denied by the agency after it found he previously intentionally misrepresented his citizenship on a Georgia driver’s license application.

Years later, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) endeavored to deport Patel and his wife, prompting him to apply for an adjustment again. He argued before a federal immigration judge that he mistakenly ticked "citizen" off on the Georgia driver’s license application, but the judge ordered him removed anyway.