The Biden administration’s plan to release perhaps hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants into the country was blocked again by a federal appeals court on Monday after a lower court ruled it illegal.
The 11th Circuit Court of Appeal denied a request by the Department of Homeland Security to issue a stay of the lower court’s order blocking the mass release. DHS planned to turn the migrants loose without giving them a date to appear in an immigration court to decide their asylum claims, though such dates are generally years in advance due to the current case backlog.
The three-judge appeals panel ruling means it is likely the Biden regime will make an emergency appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. The panel did not buy into the DHS claim that failing to stop the stay would cause “irreparable” harm.
“…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,” Monday’s order reads.
“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,” it continued.
“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,” it said.
The ongoing legal dispute originated from a lawsuit initiated by Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody. The lawsuit challenges a border policy outlined in a recent Border Patrol memo, stating that migrants can be granted parole entry into the country under certain circumstances, such as when Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is dealing with overcrowding, as parole is typically reserved for “urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit.”
The memo referred to the practice as “parole with conditions,” wherein migrants are instructed to schedule an appointment with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) or request a Notice to Appear through mail as part of the parole process.
Moody filed her suit after media outlets reported the planned releases. She argued that the policy was “materially identical” to a “Parole + ATD” policy that a federal court had previously blocked.
