Texas Judge Blocks Biden’s Executive Order to Pause Deportations
U.S. District Judge Drew Tipton rises up against Democrat's plan
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A federal judge has blocked Joe Biden's executive order to enforce a 100-day pause on deportations of illegal aliens.
The moratorium is a key immigration priority of Biden's administration.
On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Drew Tipton issued a temporary restraining order sought by Texas.
On Friday, the state filed a lawsuit against a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) memo that instructed immigration agencies to pause most deportations.
The Biden administration had failed “to provide any concrete, reasonable justification for a 100-day pause on deportations,” Tipton said while issuing his verdict.
Tipton's order is an early blow to Biden's anti-Trump policies, which have proposed far-reaching changes sought by open-borders advocates.
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Biden's immigration policies also include a plan to legalize an estimated 11 million immigrants living in the U.S. illegally.
Former Vice President Biden promised during his campaign to issue the moratorium.
However, Biden's plans have been halted in court by Judge Tipton, who issued a temporary restraining order blocking the move for 14 days on Tuesday.
Tipton was nominated by President Donald Trump on February 4, 2020, then confirmed by the Senate on June 3, 2020.
Last Wednesday, Acting Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security David Pekoske wrote:
This memorandum directs Department of Homeland Security components to conduct a review of policies and practices concerning immigration enforcement.
It also sets interim policies during the course of that review, including a 100-day pause on certain removals to enable focusing the Department’s resources where they are most needed.
The United States faces significant operational challenges at the southwest border as it is confronting the most serious global public health crisis in a century.
But on Friday, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a complaint arguing that Texas would face irreparable harm from a deportation freeze, according to The Daily Wire.
He said it would increase education and healthcare costs.
“Paxton also said it went against the terms of an enforcement agreement Texas brokered with the Trump administration less than two weeks before Biden took office,” Reuters reported.
“On January 8, Ken Cuccinelli, who was then the second-in-command at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), signed an agreement committing the department ‘to consult Texas and consider its views’ before changing policies governing the enforcement of federal immigration law,” CBS News explained.
Judge Tipton stated that Texas had “a substantial likelihood of success” arguing that the deportation freeze violated federal immigration law and that the Biden administration “arbitrarily and capriciously departed from its previous policy without sufficient explanation” when it issued the memo.
Tipton added that the Biden administration failed to “provide any concrete, reasonable justification” for the moratorium.
He wrote that the memorandum “not only fails to consider potential policies more limited in scope and time, but it also fails to provide any concrete, reasonable justification for a 100-day pause on deportations,” as CNBC noted.
Tipton stated, “DHS, however, never explains how the pause in removals helps accomplish these goals.
"It remains unknown why a 100-day pause is needed given the allegedly ‘unique circumstances’ to which the January 20 Memorandum alludes.”
He also asserted that the pause could cause “imminent and irreparable harm” to Texas.
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Paxton reacted to the judges’ decision by saying: “The Court’s decision to stop the Biden Administration from casting aside congressionally enacted immigration laws is a much-needed remedy for DHS’s unlawful action.
"A near-complete suspension of deportations would only serve to endanger Texans and undermine federal law,” Paxton added.
“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,” CNN reported.
The order represents a victory for Texas' Republican leaders, who often sued to stop programs enacted by Biden's Democratic predecessor, President Barack Obama.
It also showed that just as Democratic-led states and immigration groups fought former President Donald Trump over immigration in court, often successfully, so too will Republicans with Biden in office.
