A federal judge in Texas has put a stop to Biden’s 100-day deportation moratorium, in what is the first major blow to the new administration.
US District Judge Drew Tipton, who was appointed to the positition by President Trump, issued a 14 day temporary restraining order on Biden’s new policy, which would halt many deportations for the first hundred days of the new administration.
David Pekoske, Biden’s acting Homeland Security secretary, had signed a memo as one of Biden’s day one policy priorities, ordering the focus of any deportations to only be on “national security and public safety threats,” and anyone who had illegally entered the country after November 1st, ordering a pause on all other deportations, a swift reversal of President Trump’s policy to make anyone in the country illegally a priority for deportation.
The action taken against Biden’s deportation ban was brought to the court by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who argued that this would enact “irreparable harm” onto their state if the policy was allowed to go into effect. Paxton argued that not only did the policy violate federal law, and would subject Texas to increased costs in education and healthcare, but would also violate an agreement signed by the state and the Trump administration.
The agreement had codified that the Department of Homeland Security must consult with Texas and other states before doing anything that would “reduce, redirect, reprioritize, relax, or in any way modify immigration enforcement.” Judge Tipton agreed with the Paxton’s arguments, and put the 14 day restraining order on the policy into effect, which applies nationwide, not just to Texas.
In a tweet, Paxton said that Texas had succeeded in halting Biden’s “illegal deportation freeze,” and compared it to a “seditious, left-wing insurrection” that his team and him was able to stop. In a further statement, Paxton’s office said that the federal government “must abide by immigration laws, not circumvent them.”
VICTORY.
Texas is the FIRST state in the nation to bring a lawsuit against the Biden Admin.
AND WE WON.
Within 6 days of Biden’s inauguration, Texas has HALTED his illegal deportation freeze.
*This* was a seditious left-wing insurrection. And my team and I stopped it.
— Attorney General Ken Paxton (@KenPaxtonTX) January 26, 2021
VICTORY FOR TEXAS
Six days into the @JoeBiden admin, Texas successfully stopped the unconstitutional & irresponsible deportation freeze. The fed gov’t must abide by immigration laws, not circumvent them. I’ll continue to fight for Texans & the rule of law.https://t.co/f5UQVjSsG9— Texas Attorney General (@TXAG) January 26, 2021
The action taken by Texas and Judge Tipton against Biden’s deportation ban mirrors that of activist judges and left-leaning states against the first Trump administration. In 2017, a Hawaii judge blocked one of President Trump’s travel bans only hours before it was meant to take effect.
