Texas Governor Greg Abbott expressed his support for a recent court decision that ruled the Biden administration’s “catch-and-release” immigration policies were illegal.
Trump-appointed U.S. District Court Judge T. Kent Wetherell sided with the State of Florida against the federal government, claiming the administration’s stance violated the Immigration and Nationality Act.
“There is an immigration ‘crisis’ at the Southwest Border,” the “Executive Summary” section of Wetherell’s opinion states. “The crisis has been ongoing for over two years and shows no sign of abating.”
“The evidence establishes that the current status quo at the Southwest Border is unsustainable, but it is not the Court’s job to solve the immigration crisis,” the summary continues. “Instead, the Court’s only job is to determine based on the evidence presented whether challenged policies comply with the immigration laws, as written.”
Wetherell found Florida’s arguments persuasive, explaining, “For the most part, the Court finds in favor of Florida because, as detailed below, the evidence establishes that Defendants [the Biden administration] have effectively turned the Southwest Border into a meaningless line in the sand and little more than a speedbump for aliens flooding into the country.”
“The evidence further establishes that Florida is harmed by the challenged policies because well over 100,000 aliens have been released into Florida under the policies and the state has incurred substantial costs in providing public services to aliens,” the summary said.
Abbott reacted in a statement provided to The Dallas Express, “Yesterday, another federal court announced what Texans—and Americans—have known all along: President Biden’s open border policies are, in the words of Judge Wetherell, ‘akin to posting a flashing Come In We’re Open sign on the southern border.’”
“President Biden’s catch-and-release agenda, which violates his constitutional duty to enforce federal immigration laws, has catalyzed an unprecedented crisis of illegal immigration at our southern border and throughout our nation,” Abbott continued.
“The Biden Administration’s lawlessness is putting all Americans in imminent danger. President Biden must start enforcing the immigration laws that are already on the books,” he said.
“That means aggressively prosecuting illegal crossings between ports of entry, and locking up those illegal immigrants who ‘shall’ be detained according to Congress itself,” the governor suggested.
“While the State of Texas continues stepping up to secure the border in the federal government’s absence, this ruling is a major win in our fight to combat the record-breaking levels of illegal immigration caused by the President’s sustained dereliction of duty,” he concluded.
Others denounced the decision, suggesting the opinion was based on misrepresentations.
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, the policy director for the American Immigration Council, tweeted comments as he read the opinion, alleging at one point, “Wetherell comes to the conclusion, based on an amateurish analysis riddled with factual errors, that the primary reason migration increased in 2021 was due to Biden admin changes in release policy.”
“Gee, I wonder if some things changed in the world between February 2020 and 2021,” Reichlin-Melnik mused.
The Dallas Express reached out to the National Immigration Justice Center for comment on the ruling but did not receive a response by the publication deadline.