HOUSTON (AP) – A federal judge on Tuesday indefinitely banned President Joe Biden’s administration from imposing a 100-day moratorium on most deportations.
U.S. District Judge Drew Tipton issued an injunction requested by Texas, which argued that the moratorium violated federal law and implied additional costs for the state.
Biden proposed a 100-day break in deportations during his campaign as part of a broader review of immigration enforcement and an attempt to reverse former President Donald Trump’s priorities. Biden proposed a comprehensive immigration law that would allow the legalization of about 11 million people living illegally in the United States. It has also instituted other guidelines on which immigration and border agents should target enforcement.
Trump-appointed Tipton initially decided on January 26 that the moratorium violated federal law on administrative procedures and that the U.S. failed to show why a pause in deportation was justified. A temporary restraining order issued by the judge was set to expire on Tuesday.
Tipton’s decision did not require deportations to resume at an earlier rate. Even without a moratorium, immigration agencies have ample latitude to enforce removals and prosecute cases.
But in the days following his decision, the authorities deported 15 people to Jamaica and hundreds more to Central America. The Biden government also continued to expel immigrants in a separate lawsuit initiated by Trump officials, who invoked public health law due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The legal fight over the ban on deportation is an early sign of Republican opposition to Biden’s immigration priorities, just as Democrats and pro-immigrant legal groups fought against Trump’s proposals. Almost four years before Tipton’s order, Trump signed a travel ban from seven countries with a predominantly Muslim population, which caused chaos at airports. Legal groups have successfully sued to prevent the ban from being implemented.
It was unclear whether the Biden government would appeal to Tipton’s latest decision. The Justice Department did not request the suspension of Tipton’s previous temporary restraining order.