Fox News reports that a Florida judge has just blocked a Biden administration southern border policy that would have allowed illegal immigrants to be released into the United States.
The lawsuit relates to a government memo released last week that details the policy, which the Biden administration is referring to as "parole with conditions."
The "parole with conditions" policy would allow U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) to release illegal immigrants into the United States if one of several conditions is met.
According to Fox, parole would be allowed:
. . . 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.
Fox also reports that, under this policy, "migrants are rapidly released into the country" without "an alien registration number" and without "a court date."
Rather, "migrants are required to make an appointment with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) or request a Notice to Appear by mail."
The "parole with conditions" policy has already been legally challenged by several states, including Florida. And, Florida has already achieved a victory in the case.
Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody (R) asked the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida to place a restraining order against Biden's policy, and Judge Thomas Wetherell granted that restraining order.
"The Southwest Border has been out of control for the past 2 years. And it is about to get worse because, at midnight tonight, the Title 42 Order expires," Wetherell wrote in his ruling.
This means that the Biden administration will be prevented from implementing the "parole with conditions" policy during the two weeks that the restraining order is in place.
The White House responded to Wetherell's ruling by claiming that it "sabotages" the Biden administration's strategy to handle the southern border crisis.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said:
The way we see that is it’s sabotage. It’s pure and simple. 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.
The Biden administration has since announced that it will appeal Wetherell's ruling. "The Court should immediately stay its orders to prevent those harmful consequences while the government seeks review in the court of appeals," the Biden administration wrote in its filing.
At the time of the writing, Wetherell has yet to respond to the request. The "parole with conditions" policy remains halted.
