Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, along with 13 other state attorneys general and Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant, have filed a friend-of-the-court amicus brief to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals supporting Pres. Trump’s revised executive order. The executive order was blocked by a three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit before its March 16 start date.
According to written testimony from Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly, less than 12,500 illegal aliens were apprehended on the U.S.-Mexico border in March, which is the lowest figure in 17 years and a 71% decline since Dec. 2016.
More than 200 ICE detainer requests were declined during the week of Jan. 28 – Feb. 3, according to the first Weekly Declined Detainer Outcome Report from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). This weekly report was mandated by Pres. Trump in his Jan. 25 interior enforcement executive order.
A new study by The Center for American Progress has identified five major programs and grants totaling around $870 million that the federal government can withhold from jurisdictions who refuse to work with ICE. Pres. Trump’s Jan. 25 executive order instructed DHS to identify sanctuary jurisdictions and federal funding that could be cut off to these jurisdictions.
A Florida state judge last week ruled that President Trump’s sanctuary city executive order unconstitutionally coerced a county, which had been holding an alien for pickup and deportation by ICE. Eleventh Judicial Circuit Judge Milton Hirsch granted the alien’s claim and ordered his release even though there is no precedent for individuals making such claims based on the 10th Amendment.
