In Texas, U.S. District Judge Drew Tipton issued a 14 day restraining order on President Biden’s executive order to halt certain deportations for 100 days, blocking the deportation pause after Texas Attorney Gen. Ken Paxton challenged the rule.
The order is the first setback on immigration policy for the Biden administration, which has proposed an ambitious plan to legalize approximately 11 million illegal aliens, offer eight-year pathways to citizenship, and dramatically increase refugee and temporary worker visas. Last week, the administration also issued an order that halts all U.S.–Mexico border barrier construction.
As part of this unprecedented onslaught of first-week executive orders, David Pekoske, acting Homeland Security Secretary, issued a directive on Jan. 20 instructing authorities “to focus on national security and public safety threats as well as anyone who was taken into custody after entering the U.S. illegally after Nov. 1,” halting any deportations that were already underway before Nov. 1.
A.G. Paxton championed the victory, tweeting, “Texas is the FIRST state in the nation to bring a lawsuit against the Biden Admin. AND WE WON. Within 6 days of Biden’s inauguration, Texas has HALTED his illegal deportation freeze. *This* was a seditious left-wing insurrection, and my team and I stopped it.”
The new administration argued in court that Paxton’s lawsuit is unenforceable because “an outgoing administration cannot contract away that power for an incoming administration.”
Pekoske attempted to rationalize the dangerous deportation freeze, saying it would allow the DHS to “ensure that its resources are dedicated to responding to the most pressing challenges that the United States faces.” That includes the “immediate operational challenges at the southwest border in the midst of the most serious global public health crisis in a century”.
Paxton said DHS failed to consult with Texas before making its immigration policy changes, as is required per an agreement between Texas and the department.
Border states like Texas pay a particularly high price when the federal government fails to faithfully execute our country’s immigration laws,” Paxton said last week, adding that an “attempted halt on almost all deportations would increase the cost to Texas caused by illegal immigration.
Like Paxton, several former DHS officials expressed alarm in recent days over Biden’s orders to rescind some immigration rules.
“With the stroke of a pen, President Biden made this country less safe,” former U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Mark Morgan said. “It’s pure politics over public safety.”
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