Federal Judge Rules Biden's Border Policies Are UNLAWFUL

Judge T. Kent Wetherell ruled in response to a lawsuit filed by Florida, which claimed that the administration's mass release of tens of thousands of migrants via humanitarian parole into Alternatives to Detention (ATD) violated the law.

Wetherell stated that the policies implemented by the Biden administration, including catch and release, had contributed to the degradation of the border to keep illegal migrants out.

March 09, 2023

He said, "The evidence establishes that Defendants have effectively turned the Southwest Border into a meaningless line in the sand and 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." The judge added, "There is nothing inherently inhumane or cruel about detaining aliens pending completion of their immigration proceedings."

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Republican Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody lauded the ruling, saying, "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." The judge's decision comes amid record numbers of migrants at the border, with over 1.7 million migrant encounters in FY 2021 and over 2.3 million in FY 2022.

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The Biden administration had been using parole to quickly release migrants into the interior to reduce overcrowding at the border. However, Florida contended that the government is violating statutory mandates that require migrants to be detained. The administration had argued that it was using its prosecutorial discretion.

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The ruling could have significant implications if there is a surge in migrants when Title 42, which allows for the rapid expulsion of migrants at the southern border due to COVID-19, ends in May. The administration is also facing a looming lawsuit from GOP states over its humanitarian parole that flies in up to 30,000 migrants from Venezuela, Nicaragua, Haiti, and Cuba each month.

The administration is expected to appeal the ruling, but in the meantime, the decision could potentially slow the Biden administration's handling of the border crisis.