Tuesday, a group of 20 Republican states, led by Texas, sued President Joe Biden’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in federal court to stop it from extending the “catch and release” of border crossers into the United States.
The Biden government recently expanded the parole program, allowing “up to 30,000 qualified nationals each month” from Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua, and Haiti to remain in the US and work as they wait for their immigration hearings. The complaint contests this decision.
According to Breitbart News:
At a White House news conference, Biden informed reporters, “Today I’m announcing that my government is going to extend the parole program for persons not only coming from Venezuela, but also from Cuba, Nicaragua, and Haiti.”
“Because the Republicans have failed to support his mass immigration ideas, Biden argued he had the authority to increase immigration levels. The only option left to me,” Biden added, “is to act alone, to do as much as I can alone to attempt to change the atmosphere. The idea would provide 360,000 “parole” tickets to potential immigrants, allowing them to work and reside in the United States while simultaneously using the soon-to-expire Title 42 border barrier to deter illegal immigration.”
The extension of the parole program, according to the Republican state attorneys general, goes well beyond what the law permits and was improperly carried out in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act.
As per the complaint:
“Each of the three legal restrictions is broken by the Department’s parole program. It does not advance any meaningful public advantage, is not case-by-case, and is not done for urgent humanitarian reasons. Instead, it amounts to the establishment of a new visa scheme that enables thousands of foreigners to enter the country who would not otherwise be eligible to do so. This ignores the obvious restrictions set by Congress, as opposed to adhering to them.”
Alabama, Arkansas, Iowa, Florida, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Mississippi, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, Alaska, West Virginia, and Wyoming were also represented by state attorneys general when they joined Texas in the case.
The states contend that because of the financial burden that the migrants would put on state governments, the enlarged parole scheme would result in them suffering irreparable injury.
According to the lawsuit, “Texas spends millions of dollars annually on public education expenditures to educate illegal aliens, placing a burden on its system for residents and… costs that are not reimbursed from the federal government. The harm will only worsen over time if the defendants permit these additional immigrants to enter the country in violation of federal law.”
The lawsuit adds, “This rise places a pressure on Texas’s resources and capacity to deliver necessary services, such as emergency medical treatment, education, driver’s licenses, and other public safety services.”
Some academics have expressed concern that the increased parole is only a cover for “mass amnesty.”
RJ Hauman, a spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), described the parole increase as “one of the most egregious and unconstitutional abuses of humanitarian parole power in our nation’s history.”
Hauman remarked:
“One of the most egregious and illegal abuses of humanitarian parole power in the history of our country has been the recently expanded parole program, which is also another instance of unconstitutional usurpation of authority by a president who is adamant about disobeying or subverting immigration laws. No matter the effects on the American people or the integrity of our system, the Biden administration’s priority is to let as many individuals as possible enter the country.”