According to the Washington Examiner, a federal court just deemed one of U.S. President Joe Biden’s key immigration policies to be unlawful.
The policy is referred to as “Parole + ATD,” wherein the “ATD” stands for “Alternatives to Detention.”
“Parole + ATD”
Biden implemented the “Parole + ATD” policy soon after he took office in 2021, and his administration has been using it ever since.
The New York Post provides some details about the policy, reporting:
Parole + ATD has been used by the Department of Homeland Security [DHS] as an alternative to detaining migrants and releasing them with Notices to Appear that set a court date, a process that keeps migrants in custody much longer. Under Parole + ATD, migrants are fitted with ankle bracelets or subject to phone monitoring and told to check-in with immigration authorities when they reach their destination in the US.
Among those states that have been on the receiving end of Biden’s policy is Florida. According to state officials, over 100,000 migrants have been released in Florida by the Biden administration under the “Parole + ATD” policy.
Florida, in response, has taken the Biden administration to court, where it has challenged this policy.
The lawsuit
In its lawsuit, the state of Florida accuses the Biden administration, with the “Parole + ATD” policy, of violating federal statutes that require the detention of migrants who illegally enter the United States.
The Biden administration disputes this.
The Biden administration claims two things: first, that there is no overarching “non-detention policy,” and, second, that the administration has the discretion to decide whether or not to detain the migrants who illegally enter the United States.
Judge T. Ken Wethererell, an appointee of former President Donald Trump – has now sided with Florida.
“A meaningless line in the sand”
In his opinion, Wethererell argues that the Biden administration has “effectively turned the Southwest Border into a meaningless line in the sand.”
Wetherell writes:
The evidence establishes that Defendants have effectively turned the Southwest Border into a meaningless line in the sand and little more than a speedbump for aliens flooding into the country by prioritizing “alternatives to detention” over actual detention and by releasing more than a million aliens into the country — on “parole” or pursuant to the exercise of “prosecutorial discretion” under a wholly inapplicable statute — without even initiating removal proceedings.
With that being said, Wetherell deemed the “Parole + ATD” policy unlawful.
It remains to be seen whether the Biden administration will appeal Wetherell’s ruling.
