A federal judge has just handed the state of Florida a huge win while dealing Democrat President Joe Biden a historic loss.
U.S. District Judge T. Kent Wetherell ruled that Biden’s “catch and release” border policies are unlawful.
Judge Wetherell blocked the Biden administration from continuing to implement a 2021 Department of Homeland Security (DHS) memo that authorized “alternatives to detention” to ease overcrowding in detention facilities.
He said releasing people who illegally cross the U.S.-Mexican border rather than detaining them violates U.S. immigration law.
Wetherell wrote:
“Defendants 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 by prioritizing ‘alternatives to detention’ over actual detention and by releasing more than a million aliens into the country.
“Aliens are routinely released in the United States shortly after their apprehension for violations of immigration law.
“The Court would find that it is unlawful insofar as it allows aliens arriving at the Southwest Border to be released.
“For the most part, the Court finds in favor of Florida.
“Collectively, these actions were akin to posting a flashing ‘Come In, We’re Open’ sign on the southern border.
“The unprecedented ‘surge’ of aliens that started arriving at the Southwest Border almost immediately after President Biden took office and that has continued unabated over the past two years was a predictable consequence of these actions,” he said.
BREAKING: Federal judge sides with Florida in ruling that Biden’s catch-and-release policy is “unlawful”
JUDGE: “[Biden admin] effectively turned the Southwest Border into a meaningless line in the sand and little more than a speedbump for aliens flooding into the country…”
— Florida’s Voice (@FLVoiceNews) March 8, 2023
— Florida’s Voice (@FLVoiceNews) March 8, 2023
Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody said:
“President Biden is responsible for the border crisis and his unlawful immigration policies make this country less safe.
“A federal judge is now ordering Biden to follow the law, and his administration should immediately begin securing the border to protect the American people.”
The judge also declined to block the administration’s “non-detention policy” immigration policy.
“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 — that is the job of the political branches.
“Although it would certainly be much easier for the Court to simply say that elections have consequences and that the parties’ disagreement over proper immigration policy should be resolved in Congress or at the ballot box rather than in court, the Court sees no jurisdictional or prudential reason why it should not exercise its duty to ‘say what the law is’ in this case and then let the political chips fall where they may.”
