Republican states led by Texas’ indicted attorney general this week asked their handpicked conservative judge to issue an injunction blocking the Biden administration’s expanded parole program allowing certain migrants with financial sponsors to apply for entry to the U.S.
Despite the existence of a Ukrainian version of this policy that has allowed more than 100,000 refugees to flee the war-torn nation, Republicans and Stephen Miller’s America First Legal outfit teamed up to sue only when the administration extended this same relief to Cuban, Haitian, Nicaraguan, and Venezuelan migrants. This pack of degenerate nativists and crooks are not exactly subtle people.
Immigration policy experts note that Republicans filed their case in a Texas division that guaranteed them a Trump-appointed judge who’s been more than eager to block Biden administration policy before. In one diary last year, I’d noted how the Supreme Court had made Judge Andrew Tipton de facto head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement by allowing him to continue blocking completely legitimate deportation priorities implemented by the administration.
RELATED STORY: Republicans sue now that Biden is extending humanitarian parole to Black and brown migrants
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Under the Biden administration’s expanded parole program, up to 30,000 migrants per month from the aforementioned nations can apply for entry. Applicants must show they have a U.S. sponsor, and must arrive here by air. Once in the U.S., they have a two-year protection from deportation and the ability to work legally. The program kicked off relatively quickly, with hundreds approved for entry just days after the announcement. By expanding legal avenues to the U.S., it’s a positive and humane move.
But the big irony here is that should Miller and Republicans succeed in their legal fight, they’ll block a form of legal immigration, and their big defense when faced with the accusation of nativism is that they do like immigration, as long as it’s done legally. Should Miller and Republicans succeed in their legal fight, they’ll also be directly responsible for any sharp rise in border crossings that may result.
The administration said last month that since the expansion of parole for Cuban, Haitian, Nicaraguan, and Venezuelan migrants, border crossings had plunged, and were in fact set to be the lowest in two years. “Encounters with individuals from these countries dropped from a 7-day average of 3,367 per day on December 11, to a seven-day average of just 115 on January 24,” the Department of Homeland Security said.
”While migrant arrivals along the U.S. southern border have historically dipped in January due to a holiday season lull and colder temperatures, the drop over the past few weeks has been most pronounced among migrants from countries whose citizens are subject to the new procedures, government statistics show,” CBS News said.
Republicans had shopped their cases at least half a dozen times to Tipton, who was one of the first judges to block Biden administration policy, notably the 100-day moratorium on deportations. But the Biden administration has since begun to fight back, slamming “Texas’ ‘blatant’ and shameless ‘judge-shopping,’ urging a transfer to another court ‘in the interests of justice,’” Slate’s Mark Joseph Stern reported. “Tipton hasn't set a schedule yet, so don't expect rapid-fire action—or a quick decision,” tweeted American Immigration Council Policy Director Aaron Reichlin-Melnick. He further notes that “Tipton may be moving to Houston to replace someone, disrupting his schedule.”
Disrupting immigration policy changes at the southern border and blaming migrant families for our nation’s problems is indicted Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s focus as he’s now going to force state taxpayers to pay a multimillion-dollar settlement over his wrongdoings.
“Last week, Paxton’s office agreed to pay $3.3 million to four former top aides, who alleged in their suit that Paxton retaliated against them for accusing him of serious crimes,” The Dallas Morning News reported. He also has to apologize for calling them “rogue” employees, “after they accused Paxton of misusing his office to help one of his campaign contributors, who also employed a woman with whom the attorney general acknowledged having an extramarital affair,” the Associated Press reported.
In a statement, Paxton, who has yet to go to trial on felony securities fraud charges, claimed he chose “this path to save taxpayer dollars,” they continued. What the hell are you talking about, Ken? You’re costing them $3.3 million for your attack on whistleblowers. By the way, why isn’t that coming out of your pocket? Remember, immigrant families aren’t a drain on state resources. It’s actually corrupt Republican officials.
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Border crossings have plunged since implementation of policy that Republicans are suing to stop