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New York Gov. Kathy Hochul granted a full pardon to a Dominican immigrant convicted of felony assault, a move that eliminated the conviction underlying his removal proceedings and brought an abrupt end to a major Supreme Court case over whether certain noncitizens held for extended periods are constitutionally entitled to bond hearings.

The case centered on Keisy Guerrero Mariano, identified in Supreme Court filings as Keisy G.M., a lawfully present Dominican citizen whose case had become the vehicle for resolving a broader dispute over the federal government’s authority to detain certain noncitizens without bond while removal proceedings are pending.

Mariano pleaded guilty to second-degree assault in New York in 2015 and served time for the offense. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested him in 2020, with the aggravated-felony conviction serving as the basis for removal proceedings and mandatory immigration detention.

Mariano remained in ICE custody for nearly two years before being released in 2022 under a nationwide injunction connected to health concerns during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Before that release, U.S. District Judge John P. Cronan of the Southern District of New York rejected Mariano’s habeas petition in November 2021.

The legal landscape changed in May 2024, when the Second Circuit Court of Appeals overturned that ruling and concluded that the government must provide noncitizens with a bond hearing when their detention becomes “unreasonably long.” The appeals court held that failing to provide such a hearing would violate the Fifth Amendment’s Due Process Clause.

The Trump administration appealed the ruling to the Supreme Court, arguing against the Second Circuit’s conclusion that the Constitution requires bond hearings in such circumstances. Under federal law, certain noncitizens convicted of specified crimes are subject to mandatory detention while removal proceedings are underway.

The Supreme Court agreed in June to hear the dispute. The case initially involved both Mariano and Carol Williams Black, a Jamaican national who had also challenged his prolonged detention.

Black’s portion of the dispute became moot after he left the United States and submitted a declaration stating that he did not intend to return. That left Mariano’s case as the vehicle through which the justices were expected to decide the constitutional question.

Then, in late August, Hochul granted Mariano a full and unconditional pardon for the aggravated-felony conviction at the center of his immigration case.

The timing immediately changed the Supreme Court litigation. According to Solicitor General D. John Sauer, the pardon came three calendar days before Mariano’s merits brief was due at the Supreme Court.

Because the assault conviction was the basis for Mariano’s pending removal proceedings and the government’s argument that he was subject to mandatory detention, the pardon meant he would no longer be subject to that detention on those grounds, the Solicitor General told the Court.

As a result, both sides agreed that Mariano’s habeas case had become moot.

The parties filed a joint stipulation to dismiss the Supreme Court case on September 11, and the Court’s official docket records that the case was dismissed that day under Supreme Court Rule 46.

The development means the Supreme Court will not use Mariano’s case to decide whether the Second Circuit was correct in holding that prolonged mandatory immigration detention can trigger a constitutional right to a bond hearing.

The Trump administration, however, has made clear that it intends to continue challenging the Second Circuit precedent.

Sauer informed the Supreme Court that the administration would look for another case — an “alternative vehicle” — that could allow the justices to resolve the same legal questions during the Court’s 2026-27 term.

Hochul’s pardon drew criticism from Iowa Solicitor General Eric Wessan, who questioned the governor’s decision to erase the conviction while the Supreme Court litigation was pending.

“I wonder how many non-American felons Governors like Hochul will choose to fully pardon and free to avoid them facing consequences for their actions,” Wessan added.

The federal government had considered asking the Supreme Court to vacate the lower-court rulings after Mariano’s case became moot. Sauer said the administration ultimately decided against doing so, reasoning that vacating those decisions would not resolve conflicting rulings among the federal appeals courts and could delay another suitable case from reaching the Supreme Court.

Instead, the Second Circuit’s ruling remains in place while the administration searches for another case through which it can ask the Supreme Court to decide the broader constitutional dispute.

The episode therefore ended Mariano’s particular Supreme Court battle without resolving the underlying question that brought the case before the justices: when, if ever, the Constitution requires the federal government to provide a bond hearing to a noncitizen who would otherwise be subject to mandatory immigration detention for an extended period.

SAN FRANCISCO — A driverless Waymo taxi pulled itself over in San Francisco and alerted authorities after the company detected a firearm inside the vehicle, leading police to arrest two juveniles and recover what authorities described as a loaded, AR-style “ghost gun.”

The unusual incident unfolded shortly before 4 a.m. on September 3 in San Francisco’s Richmond District, offering a striking example of how autonomous taxi companies can remotely respond to activity taking place inside their driverless vehicles.

According to the Los Angeles Times, Waymo confirmed that its systems detected what a company spokesperson described as a “violation of our terms of service involving a firearm.” The vehicle was then brought to a stop, emergency services were contacted, and the company “cooperated fully” with the San Francisco Police Department.

Police said they received a report involving two passengers traveling in an autonomous vehicle with a firearm. Officers responded to the location and carried out what the department described as a “high-risk vehicle stop.”

Inside the driverless taxi were two juveniles, a boy and a girl. Officers detained both passengers before searching the vehicle.

During that search, police said they recovered a loaded AR-style firearm that authorities characterized as a ghost gun, a term generally used for privately assembled firearms that lack standard identifying markings or serial numbers. Officers also allegedly recovered suspected marijuana and mace spray.

Both juveniles were taken into custody and transported to juvenile hall. Their identities were not released because of their ages.

Police said the investigation remains “open and active.”

The episode raises an unusual aspect of the growing use of robotaxis: although there is no human driver sitting behind the wheel, passengers should not assume that activity inside an autonomous vehicle necessarily goes unnoticed.

Waymo’s rider policies prohibit weapons inside its vehicles, and the company has systems in place to respond when prohibited or potentially dangerous behavior is detected.

In this case, the company said the firearm triggered its response procedures, ultimately resulting in the vehicle stopping and authorities being notified.

The September 3 encounter was also not the first time Waymo has intervened because of alleged misconduct by passengers.

In July, the company contacted police in San Mateo after two teenagers were reportedly drinking alcohol and shooting toy guns from the back of one of its vehicles. Authorities said Waymo responded by stopping the vehicle, after which police became involved.

Waymo began in 2009 as Google’s self-driving vehicle project and was spun off into a separate company under Google parent Alphabet in 2016. Its autonomous vehicles have since become an increasingly common sight in cities including San Francisco and Los Angeles.

The company has continued rapidly expanding its robotaxi operations. This month, Waymo launched paid service in San Diego, Denver and Tampa, and it recently received authorization from California regulators to expand into additional areas including Sacramento and communities in Orange and Riverside counties.

As Waymo’s driverless vehicles have become more commonplace, they have also been involved in a number of unusual incidents.

In July, for example, a shirtless man in East Hollywood was recorded standing on top of a Waymo vehicle and dismantling parts of the car. In another incident in downtown Los Angeles in 2025, authorities arrested a man who allegedly attempted to get behind the wheel of a Waymo and drive it himself.

The latest incident, however, presented a different scenario: the alleged danger was not outside the autonomous vehicle but sitting inside it.

With no human driver present to observe the passengers or call police, Waymo itself detected the alleged firearm violation, stopped the ride and contacted emergency services — culminating in the arrest of both juvenile passengers and the recovery of the loaded weapon.

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White House border czar Tom Homan said there are no plans for Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to conduct sweeps at polling locations during November’s midterm elections, rejecting concerns that federal immigration officers could be deployed broadly to voting sites.

“There’s no plan to sweep polling locations,” Homan said, according to the Washington Examiner.

His comments came amid growing concern among Democratic officials and voting-rights organizations that the presence of immigration agents or other federal officers near polling places could intimidate voters or discourage some people from casting ballots.

Democratic organizations and activist groups have responded by launching an initiative called the “New Battlefield Project,” which is seeking to recruit 10,000 volunteers to monitor polling locations and prepare for the possibility of federal officers appearing at voting sites.

Juan Proaño, CEO of the League of United Latin American Citizens, accused the administration of using concerns about noncitizen voting and possible immigration enforcement to frighten Latino voters.

“This administration is basically using the rhetoric that undocumented citizens are voting and that they’re going to have DHS and ICE at the polls to try to intimidate and suppress the Latino vote,” Proaño told the AP.

The Trump administration has denied that it intends to send ICE agents on widespread enforcement operations at polling locations. Homan said he had not seen operational plans or discussions concerning immigration enforcement at voting sites.

His latest remarks represent the administration’s clearest assurance that ICE is not preparing a coordinated operation to search polling places for noncitizens during the November elections.

The controversy has emerged as part of a much broader political and legal fight over election procedures ahead of the midterms, with Democrats and voting-rights organizations challenging several Trump administration initiatives that they say could make voting more difficult. The administration maintains that its policies are aimed at safeguarding election integrity.

Among the measures drawing scrutiny are President Donald Trump’s efforts to change federal election procedures, including new rules affecting mail voting and stronger mechanisms for verifying U.S. citizenship.

Trump signed an executive order in March directing federal agencies to strengthen citizenship verification in federal elections and make changes involving mail and absentee voting.

Among other provisions, the administration sought greater federal access to information that could be used to verify citizenship and backed Postal Service regulations that would require states to submit information about mail voters through a federal portal and comply with new requirements for ballot envelopes.

Administration officials have maintained that the changes are intended to strengthen election security and help ensure that only eligible U.S. citizens participate in federal elections.

Trump has also repeatedly urged Congress to approve the SAVE America Act, legislation that would impose documentary proof-of-citizenship requirements for voter registration in federal elections. The White House has presented the proposal as another election-integrity measure.

The administration’s effort to impose new requirements on mail ballots has faced a series of court challenges.

On Sunday, U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols, a Trump appointee, became the second federal judge to block the Postal Service regulations. Nichols concluded that Congress gave the Postal Service authority to deliver mail, but not to require states to enroll mail voters in a federal system or refuse ballots that failed to comply with the agency’s new standards.

The rules would have required states to provide information about mail voters and obtain approval for ballot-envelope designs, with the Postal Service potentially refusing to deliver ballots that failed to satisfy the requirements. The administration sought Supreme Court intervention after an earlier injunction was issued by U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani.

Voting-rights organizations and Democratic officials have argued that imposing the requirements so close to the election could prevent otherwise valid ballots from being delivered or counted. The administration has argued that the regulations are lawful safeguards and would not override state election laws or prevent eligible voters from casting ballots.

The disputes over mail voting and citizenship verification have become part of the larger partisan battle over the administration’s election policies, with Democrats warning that the changes could discourage participation and the administration insisting that its objective is to protect the integrity of federal elections.

Homan’s statement addressed one particularly contentious aspect of that debate: He said ICE is not planning widespread immigration-enforcement operations at polling locations during the November midterms.

“There’s no plan to sweep polling locations,” Homan said.