A federal judge has imposed a preliminary injunction on the Biden administration’s “parole with conditions” policy – dealing yet another blow to the policy which saw illegal migrants being released into the U.S. interior without a court date in an attempt to reduce overcrowding at Border Patrol facilities.
Judge T. Kent Wetherell had imposed a two-week temporary restraining order on the “parole with conditions” policy on Thursday, after he accepted arguments from the state of Florida that the policy – outlined in a May 10 memo – was materially identical to a “Parole + ATD” policy that he had blocked in March.
The two-week restraining order, which the White House decried as “sabotage,” came hours before the end of the Title 42 public health order, and gave the court time to weigh arguments about whether a longer-term preliminary injunction could be imposed.
BIDEN ADMIN SAYS IT RELEASED 6,000 MIGRANTS INTO US BEFORE COURT ORDER BLOCKING PAROLE POLICY
The Department of Homeland Security had argued that the court does not have the authority to enjoin the policy, and had warned about chaotic scenes and overcrowding at the border if the administration was not allowed to use the policy to reduce overcrowding.
WHITE HOUSE RAGES AFTER FEDERAL JUDGE BLOCKS RELEASE OF MIGRANTS WITHOUT COURT DATES: ‘SABOTAGE’
The policy, outlined in a Border Patrol memo, outlined how migrants can be allowed into the country on parole – a process typically reserved for “urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit” – if Customs and Border Protection (CBP) faces overcrowding. Migrants released under the policy are required to make an appointment with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) or request a Notice to Appear by mail. The use of parole had been authorized if a sector capacity goes above 125%, if agents apprehend 7,000 a day over 72 hours or if average time in custody goes above 60 hours.
FEDERAL JUDGE BLOCKS BIDEN ADMIN FROM RELEASING MIGRANTS WITHOUT COURT DATES AS TITLE 42 EXPIRES
The Biden administration had said in a filing on Monday that it had released over 6,000 migrants into the interior on Thursday before the order went into effect, and an additional 2,500+ on Friday who had completed the parole process before the order went into effect. However, it has firmly denied claims that it is engaged in the “mass release” of migrants.
DHS had said it would comply with the ruling but, called it harmful and warned that it would “result in unsafe overcrowding at CBP facilities and undercut our ability to efficiently process and remove migrants, and risks creating dangerous conditions for Border Patrol agents and migrants.”