Biden’s 100-day break in deportations blocked by Texas judge

The court order was the first legal setback for President Biden’s immigration agenda, which is already under attack by Republicans, in the same way that former President Donald Trump’s policies were challenged by Democratic officials.

The Biden government announced on its first day the 100-day deportation moratorium, which was driven by immigration activists and Biden’s Democratic primary rival, Senator Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.). The Department of Homeland Security began to impose the break on Friday.

Judge Tipton, who was appointed by Mr. Trump in 2020, issued the order after concluding that Texas would likely prevail in some of his legal claims. The judge said he would soon consider whether to issue an injunction that would block the new policy for a longer period.

As part of its argument, Texas cited an agreement with the Department of Homeland Security, signed in the last days of the Trump administration, requiring DHS to consult the state before making any changes to immigration policy.

Similar agreements have been signed with several other states, although legal experts have doubted that they are enforceable contracts.

Judge Tipton did not rule on the agreement between DHS and Texas. Instead, he wrote that the January 20 Biden government memorandum to unilaterally prevent the deportation of immigrants with final removal orders likely violated federal law.

The judge said the break did not seem consistent with the requirement that such immigrants be deported within 90 days. He also said that the Biden government’s move likely violated a law that requires federal agencies to act reasonably in adopting new policies.

“The January 20 memorandum not only fails to consider potential policies more limited in scope and time, but also fails to provide any concrete and reasonable justification for a 100-day break in deportations,” wrote Judge Tipton.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton

celebrated the decision on Twitter. “Texas is the FIRST state in the country to file a lawsuit against administrator Biden. AND WE WON ”, he wrote.

DHS declined to comment, citing pending litigation.

The government argued in a court case over the weekend that the president has ample latitude to decide which immigrants to deport and that the government is not expressly required to deport all immigrants with removal orders. “The Supreme Court has recognized the humanitarian component of immigration enforcement and the government must be able to make that assessment before executing removal orders,” the document said.

A White House spokesman said: “We are confident that as the case progresses, it will become clear that this measure was fully appropriate to order a temporary pause to allow the agency to carefully review its policies, procedures and enforcement priorities. – allowing for a greater focus on threats to public and national security. ”

Separately, the Justice Department terminated the government’s zero-tolerance policy on Tuesday that all adults should be prosecuted for crossing the southern border illegally, saying this was inconsistent with the department’s principle of exercising judgment and making individualized assessments in criminal cases.

“Today’s action restores prosecutors their traditional freedom to make prosecution decisions based on a careful review of the particular facts and circumstances of individual immigration cases,” a department spokesman said in a statement.

The policy, implemented in May and June 2018, resulted in the separation of more than 3,000 migrant children from their families. President Trump put an end to the separation of families according to politics through an executive order on June 20, 2018, amid bipartisan criticism.

The Biden government is due to announce this week the creation of a family reunification task force to deal with more than 600 separated children whose parents have not yet been located.

—Brent Kendall contributed to this article.

Write to Michelle Hackman at [email protected]