Florida has locked in a 15-year shield against the revival of illegal immigration parole policies used under former President Joe Biden, securing a court-enforced settlement with the Trump administration that state officials say would block future Democratic administrations from loosening border release rules inside the Sunshine State.
The consent decree, entered Feb. 4 in federal court in the Northern District of Florida, resolves a lawsuit Florida first filed in May 2023 that challenged the Department of Homeland Security’s “Parole with Conditions” policy under former DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. That policy allowed large numbers of illegal immigrants encountered at the border to be released into the interior with conditions rather than being detained or promptly placed into removal proceedings.
“This ensures that the next Democratic administration cannot abuse the parole system to allow another invasion of illegal aliens into our country,” said Jae Williams, press secretary for Republican Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier. “We thank the Trump administration for working with our office to obtain this result.”
Under the agreement, DHS and the Justice Department are permanently barred from enforcing the Parole with Conditions policy, the earlier “Parole Plus Alternatives to Detention” policy, or any “materially indistinguishable” parole program that operates as a categorical release mechanism for undocumented immigrants in Florida. The decree explicitly prohibits using parole authority to relieve detention-capacity pressures or to delay removal proceedings by shifting enforcement into the interior.
The settlement remains in force for 15 years and can be modified or terminated only with the consent of both Florida and the federal government, subject to court approval. A federal judge retains continuing jurisdiction to enforce the decree, preventing a future administration from undoing the restrictions through executive action alone.
According to officials in the attorney general’s office, the settlement could help to set a precedent for other states seeking to prevent future left-wing administrations from imposing similar policies through executive fiat. If a future Democratic president were to impose similar policies to the Biden administration, Republican-led states would have the ability to point to Florida’s consent decree in court as grounds for defending against similar executive orders.
The lawsuit was originally filed by then–Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody, now a Republican U.S. senator, after the Biden administration rolled out the Parole with Conditions policy on the eve of the expiration of Title 42. Florida argued the policy violated federal immigration law and the Administrative Procedure Act by converting parole — statutorily limited to case-by-case use for urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit — into a mass-release program.
A federal judge initially blocked the policy, finding it materially indistinguishable from earlier parole programs the court had already vacated. While the Biden administration was in the process of appealing, President Donald Trump returned to office in January last year and directed DHS to end “catch-and-release” practices and restore parole use to statutory limits. Because the lawsuit remained active, Florida and the new administration were able to convert the dispute into a binding settlement rather than dismiss it as moot.
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The decree acknowledges that the challenged parole policy violated the plain language of immigration law and was unlawfully issued without notice and comment, though the settlement does not include a formal admission of liability.
The practical effect is that even if a future Democratic administration sought to reinstate broad parole-based release programs nationwide, those policies would not apply in Florida unless the state agreed or a federal judge dissolved the decree.
