Twenty-four states have asked a federal court to declare the Biden administration in contempt of a federal judge’s order that it prioritize turning away illegal immigrants rather than release them into the United States.
Led by Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich, the states filed a request that the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana hold President Joe Biden’s Department of Homeland Security in contempt, specifically for not expelling Haitian citizens who illegally cross the southern border.
“DHS’s own reports strongly suggest that the agency has partially implemented the Termination Order,” Brnovich wrote in the states’ motion for order to show cause. “In particular, Defendants appear to have de facto terminated the Title 42 Policy vis-à-vis citizens of Haiti. It further appears that DHS may be employing the humanitarian exception to circumvent — and perhaps violate — this Court’s injunction.”
“The Plaintiff States hereby respectfully move for (1) this Court to issue an order to show cause as to why Defendants should not be held in contempt and (2) other appropriate remedial measures to investigate Defendants’ compliance to date and prevent further potential violations,” the order continued.
BORDER PATROL AGENT ATTACKED BY FLAGPOLE-WIELDING IMMIGRANT IN EL PASO: CBP
The states’ request follows Arizona, Louisiana, and Missouri’s lawsuit that claimed the government had failed to plan for handling the anticipated surge in noncitizens expected to cross when the pandemic ended.
U.S. District Judge Robert Summerhays dealt a blow to the Biden administration in May, days before the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s pandemic border policy was slated to end. Under the CDC’s Title 42 policy, U.S. border officials were given the option of turning away all illegal immigrants back to Mexico rather than taking them into custody.
The 24 states allege that the Biden administration found a loophole in the order and began releasing Haitian immigrants into the U.S. from the border on a newly created humanitarian parole basis rather than the normal procedures.
Even if Summerhays finds Biden in contempt and orders DHS to expel all Haitian immigrants, the impact would be relatively small. In September, just 186 Haitians were apprehended by the Border Patrol for unlawful entry. That’s compared to the 207,597 total arrests on the southern border.
The Haitian numbers dropped significantly after the Biden administration began allowing Haitian immigrants to seek admission at the ports of entry, where vehicles are inspected entering the country. However, seeking asylum was not a requirement to be released into the U.S. Instead, Haitian immigrants who meet the government’s standard for fleeing their home country for humanitarian reasons were automatically released.
More than 5,000 Haitian immigrants who showed up at the ports of entry were deemed inadmissible in fiscal 2022, but some were released into the country
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The states involved are Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wyoming.
