Thirteen states have moved for emergency relief from the Biden regime’s plan to release potentially thousands of illegal immigrants into the United States daily due to overcrowding in migrant holding facilities.
Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey filed a motion on Friday seeking a court order to force the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to abandon “this illegal program.” The motion was filed as part of Bailey’s existing lawsuit against DHS contesting the regime’s refusal to secure the southern border.
“As Attorney General, I will enforce the laws as written, which includes ensuring that the Biden Administration cannot create unlawful immigration programs without the express permission of Congress,” said Attorney General Bailey. “President Biden’s immigration policy is so egregious that we can’t even finish one lawsuit before needing to amend it to address something else. The Constitution is clear: the President is tasked with securing our border. I am working to force President Biden to do so.”
The suit is similar to Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody’s lawsuit that argued the new immigration policy violated a court order she obtained earlier this year.
Judge Thomas Kent Wetherell II of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida issued a Temporary Restraining Order late Thursday night, blocking the Biden administration from directing Border Patrol to release illegal aliens onto city streets
The attorneys general of Texas, Alabama, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, and West Virginia assert in their complaint that DHS’s plan unlawfully exceeds its authority by attempting to enact “a new program granting en masse parole into the United States to illegal aliens arriving at the Southwest Border, again without the case-by-case showing of individualized urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit required by Congress.”
The complaint continues: “More, these illegal aliens will not even have removal proceedings begun against them through the issuance of a Notice to Appear at an immigration-court setting. Rather, they are released into the United States after giving a mailing address and a promise to either appear at an Immigrations and Customs Enforcement facility within 60 days to request a Notice to Appear or to request one by mail.”
The attorneys general argue that the federal government’s plan, as laid out in a memo on May 10, would “irreparably harm” their states, “flooding them with yet more illegal aliens to add to the educational expenses, unemployment benefits, costs of incarceration, emergency Medicaid, and other costs they already bear as the result of Defendants’ [Joe Biden’s] unlawful releases.”
The states ask the Court for the chance to amend their original complaint to reflect the federal government’s latest irresponsible handling of the southern border. They also ask for an order stopping the Biden Administration from opening the border.
General Bailey’s lawsuit also addresses DHS’ program that would establish a new visa system that would allow for up to 360,000 aliens from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela to be “paroled” into the United States every year. Parole allows noncitizens to physically enter and remain in the United States even though they do not have a legal basis for being admitted.
Although Congress authorized a limited parole power for foreign aliens who meet very specific and stringent standards, the Biden Administration’s new program does not meet these standards. Even worse, contrary to existing law, the program creates a pathway for program participants to apply from their home country and gain lawful status to enter and stay in the U.S. for up to two years, or even longer.
The Biden Administration instituted this program without engaging in the usual notice and comment rulemaking process required by law. This program is another instance of the Biden Administration abusing its executive authority to further its dangerous open borders agenda at the expense of the states and their taxpayers.
A trial on on the matter has been scheduled in the United States District Court Southern District of Texas on June 15.