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The state of Texas has filed another immigration-related lawsuit against the Biden administration following changes to asylum and parole procedures along the border deemed illegal.
The suit filed by Attorney General Ken Paxton is the 11th one related to border and immigration issues.
“I protested the proposed version of these rules back in October 2021, and, unsurprisingly, Biden found a way to make it worse, so I’m suing,” Paxton noted in a statement.
“The last thing Texas needs is for this Administration to make it easier for illegal aliens to enter the U.S. and obtain asylum through false claims and less oversight. We know what’s going to happen when the rule goes into effect in May 2022: wave upon wave of illegal aliens claiming ‘asylum,'” he continued.
“It’s true that our immigration system is extremely backlogged. But the answer is to secure the border, not overwhelm it even more by enacting cheap, easy incentives for illegal aliens to get into the United States,” he added.
According to his complaint, Paxton seeks to block the Department of Homeland Security from implementing a policy changing the system of processing illegal migrants who claim to fear persecution in their home countries, The Daily Wire notes.
The rule change shifts handling of those cases from immigration judges to asylum officers. If Paxton’s bid to block the rule is unsuccessful, it will take effect on May 29.
The transfer of authority would upend the present system of handling asylum cases along the border, the complaint alleges.
“The Interim Rule transfers significant authority from immigration judges to asylum officers, grants those asylum officers significant additional authority, limits immigration-judge review to denials of applications, and upends the entire adjudicatory system to the benefit of aliens,” the lawsuit says.
The Texas AG also took to Twitter to blast the Biden administration over its latest change to border policy.
“The last thing TX needs is Biden to make it easy for aliens to break into USA through false claims. We know what’ll happen when the rule goes into effect: new waves of illegals claiming ‘asylum.’ I’m suing to stop it,” he tweeted on Thursday.
The last thing TX needs is Biden to make it easy for aliens to break into USA through false claims. We know what’ll happen when the rule goes into effect: new waves of illegals claiming “asylum.” I’m suing to stop it. @America1stLegal @StephenM https://t.co/ZoTCHBXhNl
— Attorney General Ken Paxton (@KenPaxtonTX) April 28, 2022
A legal challenge last week that was led by Paxton saw the attorneys general of 21 states file suit to stop the administration from ending Title 42, a Trump-era pandemic authority that allowed for rapid deportation of most illegal migrants.
“The Biden Administration has made one disastrous border decision after another, and I’ve sued him at every turn,” Paxton wrote in his complaint. “But his new plan to rescind Title 42 is the most consequential yet. Without Title 42, hundreds of thousands more illegal aliens will flood Texas every month—even more than have been pouring over in the past year.”
On Wednesday, a federal judge ruled that the administration had to continue enforcing Title 42 for the next 14 days.
The order requires the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to continue enforcing the policy, and prevents the agency from implementing the CDC’s order to terminate the program.
“It is hereby ordered that for the next 14 days, unless this Court acts to extend or shorten that period: Defendants, including DHS and all of its subdivisions, agencies, and employees, are hereby enjoined and restrained from implementing the Termination Order, including increases (over pre-Termination Order levels) in processing of migrants from Northern Triangle countries through Title 8 proceedings rather than under the Title 42 Orders, and are further enjoined and restrained from reducing processing of migrants pursuant to Title 42,” the order stated.
“Defendants acknowledge some changes in policy in preparation for the termination of the CDC’s Title 42 Order, particularly with respect to the increased processing via expedited removal of single adults from the Northern Triangle countries (El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras),” U.S. District Judge Robert R. Summerhays wrote.
