A federal judge has extended the temporary suspension of Joe Biden’s 100-day moratorium on deportations.
“The Court may ultimately be persuaded by the Defendants’ arguments, but any harm they might incur between now and then does not outweigh the potential for irreparable harm to Texas,” U.S. District Court Judge Drew Tipton in the Southern District of Texas wrote.
The administration “argued that the 100-day pause on removals is necessary to allow” them to look into “important immigration, foreign policy, and humanitarian considerations,” the order stated.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton brought a lawsuit against the Biden administration last month after the president announced a 100-day halt to deportations.
“I told [the Department of Homeland Security] and [Biden] last night to rescind its deportation freeze, which is unconstitutional, illegal, and bad for Texas and the nation,” Paxton said of the lawsuit at the time. “They didn’t budge.”
“A higher number of illegal aliens in Texas leads to budgetary harms, including higher education and healthcare costs,” the lawsuit said.
Tipton’s order is a blow to the Biden administration, which has proposed far-reaching changes sought by immigration advocates, including a plan to legalize an estimated 11 million immigrants living in the U.S. illegally.
David Pekoske, the acting Homeland Security secretary, signed a memo on Biden’s first day directing immigration authorities to focus on national security and public safety threats as well as anyone apprehended entering the U.S. illegally after Nov. 1.
That was a reversal from Trump administration policy that made anyone in the U.S. illegally a priority for deportation.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton argued that the moratorium violated federal law as well as an agreement Texas signed with the Department of Homeland Security late in the Trump administration.
That agreement required Homeland Security to consult with Texas and other states before taking any action to “reduce, redirect, reprioritize, relax, or in any way modify immigration enforcement.”
Paxton’s office, meanwhile, submitted evidence that “refusal to remove illegal aliens is directly leading to the immediate release of additional illegal aliens in Texas.”
Tipton wrote that his order was not based on the agreement between Texas and the Trump administration, but federal law to preserve the “status quo” before the DHS moratorium.
“The Biden moratorium covers most deportations but excludes individuals who came to the U.S. after November 1, are suspected of terrorism or espionage or pose a danger to national security, have waived rights to remain in the U.S., or who’ve been determined removable by the acting director, according to an agency memo,” Paxton added.
This comes as Biden has created a border crisis with his lax immigration policies.
Texas Republican Rep. Chip Roy has introduced an explosive new bill that would designate drug cartels as Foreign Terror Organizations under federal law.
An explosive report last month revealed children detained in an overcrowded government-run tent facility at the US-Mexico border say they haven’t been able to shower for days or contact their parents.
Some children get to shower about once a week and sometimes soap runs out, with only shampoo available, she said. One child told Welch she hadn’t showered in six days.