Houston – A federal judge late Tuesday banned President J. Biden’s administration from imposing a 100-day ban on most deportations. U.S. District Judge Drew Tipton issued a preliminary injunction sought by Texas, arguing that the term violates federal law and risks imposing additional costs on the state.
Mr Biden proposed a 100-day moratorium on deportations during his campaign as part of a larger review of immigration enforcement and efforts to reverse former President Donald Trump’s priorities.
Mr. Biden has proposed a clear immigration bill that would allow about 11 million people living illegally in the U.S. to be legalized. He has also established other guidelines on who immigration and border agents should target for implementation.
Trump’s appointee Tipt initially ruled on Jan. 26 that the suspension violated federal law on administrative procedures and that the U.S. failed to show why the deportation was justified. The temporary restraining order issued by the judge was set to expire on Tuesday.
Tipton’s verdict did not require deportation to resume its previous pace. Even without suspension, immigration agencies have broad latitudes in eliminating and enforcing process cases.
But in the days following his verdict, authorities moved 15 people to Jamaica and hundreds more to Central America. The Biden administration has also continued to expel immigrants under a separate process initiated by Trump officials who demanded public health legislation over the coronavirus epidemic.
Texas American Civil Liberties Union Attorney Kate Huddleston said in a statement reacting angrily to the recent verdict that, “Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton continues … Try to force the Biden administration to follow former President Trump’s xenophobic policies. Allowing this deportation to continue would mean that families would break up and those who had the opportunity to seek relief in the United States would be brought back to danger. “
The legal battle over the ban on deportation is an early sign of Republican opposition to Mr. Biden’s immigration priorities, as Democrats and pro-immigrant legal groups fought Mr. Trump’s proposal. Nearly four years before Tipton’s decree, Mr. Trump signed a travel ban on seven predominantly Muslim countries that caused chaos at the airport. Legal groups successfully sued to stop the implementation of the ban.
It was not immediately clear if the Biden administration would appeal Tipton’s recent ruling. The Justice Department did not wait for Tipton’s earlier temporary restraining order.
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