A federal judge has struck down a Biden administration immigration policy that allows the release of illegal aliens at the border, saying it “effectively turned the Southwest Border into a meaningless line in the sand.”
Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody filed the lawsuit in September 2021, arguing that Biden administration policies allowing the mass release of illegal aliens throughout the country—some of whom end up in Florida—violates law established by Congress that mandates detention upon entry. Judge T. Kent Wetherell ruled in favor of Florida, finding the administration’s Parole and Alternative to Detention (Parole + ATD) policy to be unlawful.
The policy, he said, turns the border into “little more than a speedbump for aliens flooding into the country by prioritizing ‘alternatives to detention’ over actual detention and by releasing more than a million aliens into the country—on ‘parole’ or pursuant to the exercise of ‘prosecutorial discretion’ under a wholly inapplicable statute—without even initiating removal proceedings.”
EL PASO, TEXAS – DECEMBER 22: Immigrants warm to a fire at dawn after spending the night outside next to the U.S.-Mexico border fence on December 22, 2022 in El Paso, Texas. A spike in the number of migrants seeking asylum in the United States has challenged local, state and federal authorities. The numbers are expected to increase as the fate of the Title 42 authority to expel migrants remains in limbo pending a Supreme Court decision expected after Christmas. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)
Shortly after taking office, Biden took a series of actions to loosen immigration restrictions, including repealing President Trump’s Executive Order 13767 terminating the catch-and-release policy. (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: There’s A Massive Loophole In Biden’s Immigration Parole Program)
“Collectively, these actions were akin to posting a flashing ‘Come In, We’re Open’ sign on the southern border,” Judge T. Kent Wetherell wrote. “The unprecedented ‘surge’ of aliens that started arriving at the Southwest Border almost immediately after President Biden took office and that has continued unabated over the past two years was a predictable consequence of these actions.”
Evidence supports the fact that over 100,000 illegal aliens ended up in Florida, Wetherell said.
“Today’s ruling affirms what we have known all along, President Biden is responsible for the border crisis and his unlawful immigration policies make this country less safe,” Attorney General Moody said in a statement. “A federal judge is now ordering Biden to follow the law, and his administration should immediately begin securing the border to protect the American people.”
The Biden administration has seven days to appeal the ruling. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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