Texas filed a preliminary injunction Wednesday to stop the Biden administration from releasing migrants into the U.S., citing coronavirus concerns.
Texas, along with America First Legal counsel, filed the suit for “failing to detain aliens who come from locations where communicable diseases of public health significance are prevalent,” the parties said in an announcement.
The parties argue while the Biden administration has said Americans must be fully vaccinated to ditch their masks, the administration “has failed to follow its own rules that require the expulsion of aliens at the border – the overwhelming majority of whom have not been vaccinated and do not wear masks.”
Trumps America First effort just joined me in suing to stop Biden’s catch-and-release program of illegal immigrants crossing into Texas, getting caught and then being released by Biden. #BidenBorderCrisis #Texas https://t.co/cq2Sw4cFBO
— Attorney General Ken Paxton (@KenPaxtonTX) June 23, 2021
“The Biden Administration has laid siege to America’s sovereignty and waged merciless assault against our borders,” America First Legal President Stephen Miller said in a statement. “We are fighting back alongside the State of Texas in federal court to save our country from destruction. At stake in this battle is whether we salvage or surrender our status as an independent nation-state with recognized and enforceable territorial boundaries.”
“This anarchistic catch-and-release policy plainly and facially violates the Administration’s own public health guidelines, regulations, and directives,” he continued. (RELATED: ‘She Would Have Never Gone’ – Trump Weighs In On Report Kamala Harris Will Visit Southern Border After ‘Ignoring The Crisis’)
Former President Donald Trump issued Title 42 during the pandemic that allowed officials to expel migrants quickly until the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) determined the pandemic had waned.
Texas argues the policy was and is still needed.
“This was not an arbitrary or isolated response to the pandemic. Recognizing the unique threats posed by international travel during a worldwide pandemic, governments across the world also repeatedly imposed travel restrictions – including the Defendants, who as recently as April 30, 2021, suspended the entry of nationals from India – to prevent the further spread of COVID-19 across international boundaries.”
The Biden Administration, however, has reportedly been considering rescinding the policy and has tried to “except unaccompanied alien children from the Title 42 process through a procedurally defective order in February,” the suit alleges.
Axios reported the administration was seeking to end the policy by July 31.
“Despite issuing this generally applicable Final Rule and detailed Order, the Defendants appear to have decided that protecting Americans through use of the Title 42 process was less important than perpetuating the near-certain indefinite presence of aliens arriving as members of family units and as unaccompanied alien children.”
The state of Texas alleges Texans are at risk of “significant harms” because they “will continue to be exposed to COVID-19 or new variations thereof. Texans will continue to contract COVID-19, Texans will die from COVID-19, and Texas will incur significant costs in terms of healthcare and law enforcement resources.”