Biden administration cries ‘sabotage’ after Florida judge blocks migrant releases on parole
Kaelan Deese
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A federal judge’s decision to block the Biden administration from fulfilling parts of its new immigration strategy was described as “sabotage” by White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Friday.
Jean-Pierre accused Florida GOP Attorney General Ashley Moody of making efforts to thwart President Joe Biden’s ability to respond efficiently to migrant surges after a judge ruled in favor of her suit to block plans to release immigrants into the United States on “parole” just before Title 42 expired after 11:59 EDT Thursday.
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“The way we see that is it’s sabotage. It’s pure and simple,” Jean-Pierre said at the White House press briefing. “That’s how it reads to us. The claims that [U.S. Customs and Border Protection] is allowing or encouraging mass release of migrants is just categorically false. That’s not what’s occurring; that is not what’s happening.”
U.S. District Judge T. Kent Wetherell, a nominee of former President Donald Trump, granted Florida’s request and found that the new policy was not “materially different” from a previous parole policy that released immigrants without court dates.
“The Southwest Border has been out of control for the past 2 years,” Wetherell wrote in Thursday’s 17-page ruling. “And it is about to get worse because, at midnight tonight, the Title 42 Order expires.”
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who has come under fire from Border Patrol unions in his tenure due to the increase in illegal border crossings, also called Wetherell’s order “very harmful” on Friday.
It’s a “very harmful ruling, attacking a practice that prior administrations have used,” Mayorkas told NBC News on Friday morning.
When the Title 42 emergency health authority expired, Mayorkas attempted to stamp out fears that the border crisis would worsen.
“The border is not open,” Mayorkas said in a statement Thursday, adding, “Together with our partners throughout the federal government and Western Hemisphere, we are prepared for this transition.”
Former federal immigration judge Mark Metcalf, who practiced law for 37 years, told the Washington Examiner that Biden’s plans to release immigrants into the U.S. on parole “creates no positive controls on aliens released” into the country, adding, “they’re doing an end run around federal law.”
“They’re trying to avoid these migrants from getting a court date. And then if they never get a court date, they fail to appear for court, and they can’t be removed for failing to appear in court, which generally speaking results in an order of removal,” Metcalf said.
Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) took a victory lap over the decision during a Friday morning press conference in Fort Myers.
“Maybe [this] will cause them to look internally and say, ‘Maybe we should do our jobs and actually protect the American people for a change,’” DeSantis said.
Attorneys for the government have warned that a ruling like the one Wetherell delivered Thursday evening would lead to dangerous overcrowding at Border Patrol stations not intended for long-term stays.
That comes as the southern border has seen more than 10,000 crossings each day, amounting to a record-breaking 67,759 illegal immigrants in the past week alone. Despite the records set, Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz told reporters in a closed-door roundtable Wednesday that he believes the worst of the surge this week concluded after Title 42 expired.
CBP said it would comply with Wetherell’s order that will remain in effect for two weeks, and the Justice Department has said it’s weighing its options after the decision, signaling the administration could appeal the ruling in the coming days.
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South Texas Law School professor Josh Blackman told the Washington Examiner he believes the “upshot” of the judge’s ruling will “prevent” immigrants who haven’t provided notice of a court hearing from being released into the U.S.
“I think it will at least prevent people from being released who have not yet given any sort of notice that they have to appear at a certain day for a hearing,” Blackman said.