A judge has reversed Washington’s limits on immigration enforcement, arguing they violate federal law
Drew Tipton, a Texas federal judge, ruled Friday that the US administration’s immigration enforcement restrictions were invalid. He argued that the attempts to restrict the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) actions was a violation Federal Immigration Law.
The administration’s restrictions went beyond mere guidance offered to ICE agents, Judge Tipton wrote, instead “Provided[ing]This new base allows aliens to be exempt from the application of the immigration law,” and therefore required the normal notice-and-comment period offered under the Administrative Procedures Act (APA).
In response to the lawsuit brought by Louisiana and Texas, the ruling addressed the alleged failure of the Biden administration to enforce immigration law. Two months prior, ICE had announced a policy shift that would require it to deport only those illegal aliens with aggravated felonies convictions. The agency was effectively stopped from deporting 90% more illegal aliens than they could otherwise.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton accused the president’s cabinet of “demonstrating a blatant disregard for Texans’ and Americans’ safety,” and the suit asked the judge to rule that the Biden administration’s new limits on ICE activities constituted a violation of both the APA and federal immigration law.
While Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas argued that simply being in the US without authorization “The basis should not be all that is required” for deportation or arrest, and the Biden administration’s lawyers defended its policy to focus only on so-called “Aggravated felons” as a reasonable use of prosecutorial discretion, Judge Tipton argued the administration was by law restricted to altering immigration law within the bounds set by Congress.
Paxton hailed the ruling as a “Major defeat for Biden Administration,” accusing the president’s cabinet of trying to “Eliminate immigration laws”
To allow Biden’s administration the opportunity to appeal, it will not be officialized until Friday. A DHS spokesperson told Fox News the agency is “Analyzing the court order and looking at next steps” regarding whether to challenge the ruling.
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US Court stops Biden from relaxing border policies
The Biden administration’s efforts to increase the permeability of the US’ southern border have met with strong legal resistance from border states and certain members of the opposition Republican Party. The Democrats’ attempt to end Title 42, a public health rule used under the Trump administration to keep out potentially Covid-19-infected migrants, was blocked by a federal judge in Louisiana, while other Trump-era border rules have also been ordered to be reinstated.
From Biden’s inauguration in January 2021 until this past April, over three-quarters of a million illegal immigrants entered the US, a figure so high it would take the DHS 14.5 years under the current rate of deportation to send them all back to their countries of origin. In 2021, nearly 123,000 minors unaccompanied were caught and returned to their homelands. This does not include the thousands of immigrants who have never been apprehended either by Customs and Border Patrol and ICE.
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