Over a border policy set forth in a Border Patrol memo referenced last month, Attorney General Ashley Moody of Florida, brought a lawsuit against the Biden administration. The Border Patrol memo said that migrants can be allowed into the country on parole, with a pending court date.
By way of history, the video below, not often referenced anywhere, is of the Florida Attorney General's Office questioning the U.S. Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz over eight months ago in a deposition as part of litigation the office is conducting against the Biden administration to enforce public-safety immigration laws. It is sobering at best. The uncovered memo from 2022 is discussed as follows-
The current process is typically reserved for "urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit". if Customs and Border Protection (CBP) faces overcrowding. Effectively, the memo called the practice "parole with conditions" as migrants are required to make an appointment with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) or request a Notice to Appear by mail.
Florida AG, Moody sued after media reports emerged of the planned releases, arguing the policy was "materially identical" to a "Parole + ATD" policy previously blocked in court. Federal Judge T. Kent Wetherell II had imposed a two-week restraining order on the Biden administration policy, which would have released migrants under the same "parole with conditions," just ahead of the scheduled end of the Title 42 public health order.
Biden’s DHS had acknowledged the plan to release migrants without court dates, however it had rejected the idea that it was conducting "mass" releases. It rather claimed that releases were only taking place on a case-by-case basis. It also said that reports that CBP is allowing or encouraging mass releases of migrants “are categorically false." Either way, the real question is how are these case-by-case circumstances vetted? With the sheer numbers of illegals presenting – mass release on this basis could likely be one and the same.
Then, in its request, to stay a lower court order that blocked it, from implementing a policy that allows for the release of migrants into the U.S. without court dates, the Biden administration was denied judicial relief from the lower court (against them) by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. The appeals court action now clears the path for the administration to make a last-ditch effort in an emergency appeal to the Supreme Court.
A three-judge panel of 11th Circuit Court of Appeals issued a decision, on Monday, denying the Biden administration’s request to stop a lower court judge’s order from taking effect, while the case plays out in the courts on the merits. Their emergency appeal to the Supreme Court, will ask SCOTUS to stay the lower court's decision.
Essentially, the 11th Circuit panel did not accept the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) claims in court that not issue a stay would cause "irreparable" harm. Mondays order reads-
"…DHS's claims of irreparable injury ring somewhat hollow. In this record, considering the department's track record of overstating similar threats in the underlying proceedings. For instance, on January 12, 2023, DHS represented to the district court that any vacatur of the Parole+ ATD policy would result in ‘disastrous consequences’ for the management of the border starting the very next day," …and it continued…
"DHS made the same representation again on February 16, 2023. But, in truth, CBP had stopped using the Parole+ ATD practices as of January 2, 2023, and DHS now admits that it was able to ‘manage[] its detention capacity [since January] using many other tools at its disposal.’ The department's ability to ascertain future harm is uncertain at best," adding…
"Given this record, we take DHS's latest claims of impending disaster if it is not allowed to use either of the challenged policies with some skepticism,"
Excerpt From - 11th Circuit Court of Appeals Decision
Coming just days after AG Moody filed an amended complaint in the case, the 11th Circuit rendered their decision. Moody had expanded her arguments to include that Border Patrol is continuing to release migrants on their own recognizance with a court date (known as a notice to appear, or NTA).
In her previous and amended briefs to the courts, AG Moody on behalf of the state of Florida, is arguing for a review of the agency’s policy and for it to be set aside, asserting that most of the releases of migrants into the U.S. are because of the NTA/OR policy. Florida’s arguments also say that DHS has failed to consider alternatives to releasing migrants. This would include reopening family detention and ending the Flores consent decree, which now limits how long minors can remain in custody.
No matter how it is shuffled, these illegal migrants are being released essentially with the hope they will appear for their given court dates. The process is extremely flawed at best and puts this nation at risk.
It is commendable that AG Moody and the state of Florida is actively challenging the laissez-faire attitude by the Biden administration in ignoring our current immigration laws as written. Biden’s DHS, doesn’t enforce the laws as written but rather endorses their administrative policies through presidential edicts that have seen our nation invaded.
This INVASION has made every state, a border state – no American is exempt from the consequences of what Biden has done. The fact remains that these individuals are here and largely surviving on tax-payer funded programs intended for American born citizens. Congress will, in the days ahead, be forced to reckon with this epic burden that all American’s must now face.
“A nation that cannot control its borders is not a nation”.
-Ronald Reagan