The Biden administration was blocked by a federal judge, from imposing limitations on Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests, detentions, and removals.
Issuing a preliminary injunction prohibiting President Joe Biden from imposing new guidelines for laws regarding consequences for illegal immigration, district Judge Michael Newman of the Southern District of Ohio ruled in favor of the Republican attorneys general of Arizona, Montana, and Ohio.
“The States sue because they believe DHS skirted Congress’s immigration enforcement mandates when it issued a policy that prioritizes certain high-risk noncitizens for apprehension and removal. DHS contends that seemingly mandatory statutes must be read flexibly to permit efficient law enforcement,” Newman wrote in his ruling, per report.
“At bottom, that is what this dispute is about: can the Executive displace clear congressional command in the name of resource allocation and enforcement goals? Here, the answer is no,” wrote Newman.
In November 2021, the Biden administration was sued by Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich, Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen, and Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, over the policy revision, which they said: “dramatically ties the hands of immigration officers, halting nearly all deportations.”
The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, issued permanent guidance in the same month, to limit whom ICE could arrest and thus remove from the country. The guidance established that ICE officers had to obtain permission to arrest illegal immigrants who had not been convicted of an aggravated felony, were not affiliated with a gang or terrorist network or had illegally entered the U.S. before November 2020.
“This is a great victory for the rule of law, border security, and public safety across the country. President Biden’s open border policies make it easier for the Mexican cartels to smuggle drugs into our country, which is part of the reason we’re seeing such an increase in violent crime. I hope the Biden administration will follow the court order and start following the law when it comes to deportations, particularly for those illegal aliens who have prior criminal convictions,” Knudsen said in a statement.
