by Eric Lendrum
On Friday, a federal judge in Texas ordered the Biden Administration to stop its mass releasing of illegal alien minors into the country after they come across the southern border.
Breitbart reports that the ruling came from Judge Mark Pittman of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, who was appointed by President Donald Trump in 2019. Pittman’s order forbids the Biden Administration from releasing any more illegals by declaring them exempt from Title 42, an immigration policy first enacted by President Trump which allowed immigration authorities to immediately deport illegals after apprehending them. The policy was one of several strict immigration measures implemented shortly after the coronavirus outbreak, citing health concerns with regards to the high number of unhealthy people crossing the border and potentially spreading the disease even further.
Under Biden, virtually all illegal aliens under the age of 18 were declared exempt from Title 42 and were allowed into the country, where they would first be placed in the custody of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), before eventually being connected with family members and other sponsors already living in the United States.
In his ruling, Judge Pittman pointed out that Biden “has (arbitrarily) excepted COVID-19 positive unaccompanied alien children from Title 42 procedures—which were purposed with preventing the spread of COVID-19.”
“As a result, border states such as Texas now uniquely bear the brunt of the ramifications,” Pittman continued. “Yet, while policy decisions are beyond judicial review, those agency actions that are ‘arbitrary, capricious, . . . or otherwise not in accordance with law’ will be set aside.”
Attorney General Ken Paxton celebrated the ruling as a “win for Texas and children,” and a “loss for Biden and cartels.” America First Legal Foundation, a legal organization founded and led by former senior Trump Administration adviser Stephen Miller, released a statement declaring the ruling “a truly historic victory.”
“Biden’s decision to except UAC (unaccompanied children) from Title 42, and instead mass resettle them in the United States, has led to the largest wave of criminal child smuggling in human history–and the flood of illegal alien teens and minors has drained the resources of our schools, hospitals, and communities while creating a new unimpeded recruiting pipeline for MS-13,” Miller said in the statement.
“This preliminary injunction orders the Biden Administration to halt their order categorically excepting unaccompanied alien minors from Title 42 repatriation,” Miller’s statement continues. “This is a truly historic victory, but we have a long, long, long way to go to end the Administration’s crusade to eradicate our sovereignty.”
Judge Pittman’s ruling is the latest in a string of defeats for the Biden Administration’s unprecedented open-borders policy on immigration. Texas had previously successfully overturned the administration’s attempts to implement a 100-day moratorium on all deportations, and also saw a federal judge order the administration to resume the highly successful Trump-era “Remain in Mexico” policy. Nevertheless, the border has still seen a historically high number of border crossings since Biden came to power, with over 122,000 illegal alien minors coming into America in the fiscal year 2021.
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Eric Lendrum graduated from the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he was the Secretary of the College Republicans and the founding chairman of the school’s Young Americans for Freedom chapter. He has interned for Young America’s Foundation, the Heritage Foundation, and the White House, and has worked for numerous campaigns including the 2018 re-election of Congressman Devin Nunes (CA-22). He is currently a co-host of The Right Take podcast.
Photo “Processing Unaccompanied Children” by U.S. Customs and Border Protection.