Judge sides with Florida in immigration lawsuit against Biden administration
TALLAHASSEE, Florida. — Supporting largely Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Attorney General Ashley Moody, a federal judge on Wednesday ruled that the Biden administration’s treatment of immigrants on the southwestern border violated federal law.
Moody’s office filed a lawsuit in 2021 alleging that the Biden administration violated immigration laws through a “catch and release” policy that resulted in people being released from custody after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border.
The lawsuit was based in part on what state lawyers refer to as the Biden administration’s “no detention” policy and a policy known as “Parole Plus Detention Alternatives” or “Parole + ATD.”
U.S. District Judge T. Kent Weatherell on Wednesday released a 109-page ruling blaming the Biden administration for the influx of migrants and dismissing the federal government’s policy rationale, likening the approach to “a kid who kills his parents and then seeks self-pity.” be an orphan.”
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The undocumented immigrant emancipation lawsuit is said to be affecting Florida due to issues such as increased spending on education, health care and criminal justice.
Weatherell, a former state appellate judge appointed to federal court by former President Donald Trump, found that Florida’s claims about an alleged “no-detention policy” are “non-litigable” but that the parole+ATD process violates federal immigration law and citizenship.
The judge delayed his decision to lift the parole+ATD policy for seven days, giving the Biden administration time to appeal.
“For the most part, the court rules in favor of Florida because, as detailed below, the evidence establishes that the defendants have effectively turned the southwest border into a pointless line in the sand and nothing more than a speed bump for aliens infesting the country. prioritizing “alternatives to detention” over actual detention and releasing more than a million foreigners into the country – “on parole” or at the “discretion of the prosecutor” under a wholly inapplicable law – without even initiating removal procedures” – Weatherell . , which is based in Pensacola, wrote.
More than 1.16 million immigrants were released under the Biden administration’s policies between March 2021 and November 2022, according to court records, of which about 100,000 ended up in Florida.
“Taken together, these actions were akin to placing a flashing ‘Come in, we are open’ sign on the southern border. The predictable consequence of these actions was an unprecedented “influx” of aliens that began arriving on the southwestern border almost immediately after President Biden took office and which has not abated for the past two years,” wrote the judge, who presided over the court for a week. long trial in January.
Weatherell noted that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security “never had sufficient funding to apprehend and detain every foreigner illegally in the country” and as a result was forced to make “tough decisions” about who to release.
“Just because DHS has to make these ‘hard decisions’ doesn’t mean it has free rein to make policies that go against the clear mandates of the INA (Immigration and Nationality Act) or create ‘processing paths’ that distort the wording of the law. to exercise their powers. preferred the policy of “alternatives to detention” rather than actual detention,” the judge wrote.
He also scolded Biden’s lawyers for claiming that other administrations had used similar “processing paths”, stating that “as Saint Augustine and William Penn said, ‘it’s wrong even if everyone is doing it.’
Weatherell acknowledged that “geopolitical and other factors” contributed to the influx of immigrants on the southwestern frontier, “but the Defendants’ position that the frontier crisis is largely not their own cause due to their more lenient detention policy is severed from reality and is refuted by the evidence.
DeSantis, who went for re-election in November and is seen as a top contender for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, has made the border situation a top issue both as a candidate and as the state’s chief executive.
Weatherell’s decision comes a day after the start of the 2023 legislative session, in which Florida lawmakers will consider measures backed by DeSantis to increase the state’s crackdown on illegal immigration.
The governor recently said he expects the state to win the lawsuit. DeSantis spokesman Brian Griffin welcomed Weatherell’s decision.
“Through the leadership of @GovRonDeSantis and the efforts of @AGAshleyMoody, Florida has held the Biden administration accountable for failing to protect our nation’s borders,” Griffin wrote in a Twitter post.
Moody also welcomed Weatherell’s decision.
“Today’s decision confirms what we have known all along: President Biden is responsible for the border crisis and his illegal immigration policy is making this country less safe. A federal judge is now ordering Biden to uphold the law, and his administration must immediately begin securing the border to protect the American people,” the prepared statement said.
The problem is rooted in the Biden administration’s decision in March 2021 to release immigrants via “notice to report” to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement for certain periods of time. The decision was made amid pressure on processing resources caused by an influx of migrants at the US border.
In November, the Department of Homeland Security replaced this policy with the parole + ATD process, which allows parole for immigrants who meet certain criteria.
But Weatherell said federal immigration law “requires detention unless parole is justified by ‘urgent humanitarian reasons’ or ‘significant public benefit’, while the Biden administration’s approach ‘effectively allows any alien to be placed on parole’. released when continued detention is not justified.” in the public interest”—whatever that means—and the alien poses no safety or flight risk.”
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