Last week, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued the Biden administration over the “unlawful and perilous” 100-day pause on deportation of illegal immigrants, claiming it would put Americans, specifically Texans, in danger.
“Our state defends the largest section of the southern border in the nation. Failure to properly enforce the law will directly and immediately endanger our citizens and law enforcement personnel,” Paxton said in a statement. “DHS itself has previously acknowledged that such a freeze on deportations will cause concrete injuries to Texas. I am confident that these unlawful and perilous actions cannot stand,” he added. “The rule of law and security of our citizens must prevail.”
Biden’s administration announced the deportation freeze, in effect last Friday, of “certain noncitizens ordered deported,” Fox News reported. The Department of Homeland Security said it will allow the organization to ensure resources are used to respond to “the most pressing challenges that the United States is facing,” including COVID-19 challenges.
Following the lawsuit, U.S. District Judge Drew Tipton, an appointee of Donald Trump, issued a temporary restraining order to block the policy for 14 days.
Paxton took to Twitter to celebrate the victory.
“Texas is the FIRST state in the nation to bring a lawsuit against the Biden Admin. AND WE WON,” he said.
“Within 6 days of Biden’s inauguration, Texas has HALTED his illegal deportation freeze. *This* was a seditious left-wing insurrection,” he added, “And my team and I stopped it.”
According to the Epoch Times, the Biden administration argued in court that Paxton’s lawsuit is unenforceable because “an outgoing administration cannot contract away that power for an incoming administration.”
Last week, Paxton said the DHS failed to consult with Texas before making its immigration policy changes, as is required per an agreement between Texas and the agency.
“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.”
The deportation freeze is just one of many actions Biden has taken in the last week regarding immigration. Similarly, he reversed Trump’s travel bans, stopped funding for the wall and moved to strengthen protections for DACA recipients.
