A federal judge in Florida Thursday night issued a temporary restraining order halting the Biden administration’s plan to release illegal foreign nationals into the U.S. en masse.
The order is in effect for two weeks.
The judge issued the order in response to a lawsuit filed by Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody, who sued after she learned of the plan. Moody argues it violates a previous order issued by the same judge in a lawsuit she filed over a year and a half ago and won in March.
U.S. District Judge T. Kent Wetherell for the Northern District of Florida Pensacola Division Thursday night granted Moody’s request to issue a temporary restraining order and enjoined the Department of Homeland Security from implementing or enforcing a new parole policy it created. A May 10, 2023, Memorandum issued by Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz, “Policy on Parole with Conditions in Limited Circumstances Prior to Issuance of a Charging Document (Parole with conditions),” is the same parole program Judge T. Kent Wetherell already ruled was illegal but was announced under a new name, Moody argues.
A federal judge in Florida Thursday night issued a temporary restraining order halting the Biden administration’s plan to release illegal foreign nationals into the U.S. en masse.
The order is in effect for two weeks.
The judge issued the order in response to a lawsuit filed by Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody, who sued after she learned of the plan. Moody argues it violates a previous order issued by the same judge in a lawsuit she filed over a year and a half ago and won in March.
U.S. District Judge T. Kent Wetherell for the Northern District of Florida Pensacola Division Thursday night granted Moody’s request to issue a temporary restraining order and enjoined the Department of Homeland Security from implementing or enforcing a new parole policy it created. A May 10, 2023, Memorandum issued by Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz, “Policy on Parole with Conditions in Limited Circumstances Prior to Issuance of a Charging Document (Parole with conditions),” is the same parole program Judge T. Kent Wetherell already ruled was illegal but was announced under a new name, Moody argues.
“Thus, like a child who kills his parents and then seeks pity for being an orphan, it is hard to take Defendants’ claim that they had to release more aliens into the country because of limited detention capacity seriously when they have elected not to use one of the tools provided by Congress in §1225(b)(2)(C) and they have continued to ask for less detention capacity in furtherance of their prioritization of ‘alternatives to detention’ over actual detention.”
CBP maintains that the ruling is “harmful” and will result in overcrowding of CBP facilities and “undercut” its ability to “efficiently process” illegal foreign nationals into the U.S. Their release instead of deportation, Moody and others argue, violates federal law.
CBP says it will comply with the order and DHS is expected to appeal.
