A federal judge in Florida has dealt a blow to the Biden administration’s immigration policies by ruling that its use of parole to release migrants into the US interior is unlawful.
The judge accused the administration of turning the border into a “meaningless line in the sand” and contributing to the degradation of the border as a means to keep illegal migrants out.
Florida had sued the administration over the mass release of tens of thousands of migrants into Alternatives to Detention via humanitarian parole, known as “Parole + ATD”.
The judge also sided with Florida in its argument that it had standing to challenge the policy, as more than 100,000 migrants had been released into the state, and it had borne significant costs in providing public services to them.
Republican Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody hailed the ruling, saying it affirmed what they had known all along, that President Biden is responsible for the border crisis, and his unlawful immigration policies make the country less safe.
The administration had been using parole to release migrants quickly into the interior to reduce overcrowding at the border as it deals with historic migrant numbers at the border.
The administration had argued that there is no “non-detention policy” and that it is using its prosecutorial discretion.
The ruling stays the order for seven days to allow for an appeal but could potentially have massive implications if there is a surge in migrants when Title 42 ends.
The administration is also facing a looming lawsuit from GOP states over its humanitarian parole that flies in up to 30,000 migrants from Venezuela, Nicaragua, Haiti, and Cuba each month.