Texas attorney general sues Biden administration over deportation pause
(CNN)Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Friday sued the Biden administration over its 100-day deportation pause, citing an 11th-hour agreement between Texas and the Trump administration that required the Department of Homeland Security to consult with the state before making changes.
It's the first lawsuit
challenging one of the Biden administration's immigration actions,
coming roughly 50 hours after President Joe Biden took the oath of
office.
"On
its first day in office, the Biden Administration cast aside
congressionally enacted immigration laws and suspended the removal of
illegal aliens whose removal is compelled by those very laws," the
complaint, filed in the US District Court for the Southern District of
Texas, reads.
"In
doing so, it ignored basic constitutional principles and violated its
written pledge to work cooperatively with the State of Texas to address
shared immigration enforcement concerns," the lawsuit adds.
Legal agreements
in the waning days of the Trump administration between DHS and Texas,
as well as some other states and counties are intended to slow down the
Biden administration's policy changes, but it's unclear if those
agreements are legal or enforceable. They were signed by Ken Cuccinelli,
then the senior official performing the duties of the deputy secretary.
A Republican, Paxton led an attempt to void Biden's Electoral College victory
last month and will be a constant presence in federal court attempting
to block the Biden administration's policies on immigration.
During
the Trump administration, Paxton also led a lawsuit challenging the
Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which shields
undocumented immigrants who came to the US as children from deportation.
The case is ongoing. Paxton is also at the head of the latest lawsuit
at the Supreme Court challenging the Affordable Care Act.
Friday's
lawsuit targets the Biden administration's 100-day pause on
deportations. The decision to temporarily halt deportations was made "to
ensure we have a fair and effective immigration enforcement system
focused on protecting national security, border security, and public
safety," according to a DHS news release this week.
The deportation moratorium takes effect Friday.
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