Florida’s Legal Battle Against the Biden Administration’s Parole Releases at the Southern Border
12 min readThe southern border crisis has been a contentious issue since the Biden administration took office. One of the most significant points of contention has been the use of parole to release immigrants into the interior of the United States. Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody has taken legal action against the Biden administration over this issue, filing a case in March 2021.
The case, which is currently before the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, began when Florida argued that the administration was violating statutory mandates that migrants be detained. The administration, on the other hand, argued that it was using its prosecutorial discretion to release migrants into alternatives to detention when necessary and that it could not detain all illegal immigrants due to capacity issues and the immigration court backlog.
The case resulted in the revelation of multiple pockets of information, including testimony from then Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz and the release of plans for the end of the Title 42 public health order. The battle culminated in a federal judge issuing a ban on the administration’s use of Parole + ATD in March 2023. In a scathing opinion, Judge T. Kent Wetherell stated that the Biden administration had “effectively turned the Southwest Border into a meaningless line in the sand and little more than a speedbump for aliens flooding into the country.”
This ruling had additional consequences in May when the same judge slapped an injunction on the use by the administration of a “parole with conditions” program, finding it to be materially identical to the parole + ATD program that he had blocked. The White House slammed the ruling as “sabotage, pure and simple” and argued that the releases were needed to reduce overcrowding.
The administration has consistently argued that it is following the laws passed by Congress but needs more funding and comprehensive immigration reform from Congress in order to deal with what it says is a hemisphere-wide crisis. It has more recently pointed to an increase in returns since the end of Title 42 in May, saying it has returned more migrants since May than in the entirety of FY 2019. It has also pointed to a record number of fentanyl seizures as a sign its increased technology is working.
Republicans at both state and federal levels have accused the administration of fueling the crisis with liberal immigration policies and the release of migrants into the interior. There were a record 302,000 migrant encounters in December after a record 2.4 million in FY 23. Separately, the administration is battling with states over immigration policy. Amid the ongoing fight with Florida, the administration also has multiple legal battles with Texas. This week, the Supreme Court overturned a ban on federal officials from cutting razor wire set up by Texas. It also has lawsuits challenging its recent anti-illegal immigration law and the establishment of buoys in the Rio Grande.
Moody stated, “Biden is ignoring the law and the opinion we obtained in federal court regarding his open border policies. He is wasting time and resources fighting Florida and Texas instead of doing his job and ending the border crisis. As a result, more than 8 million unvetted immigrants and hundreds of millions of deadly doses of fentanyl have flooded into our country with no signs of stopping as long as Biden is president.”
Congress is trying to find a deal on a border supplemental deal. The White House had requested $14 billion for aid to communities, expedited removal, and more staffing. But Republicans want that tied to tightened asylum rules and more restrictions on the use of parole. The subject of the battle between Florida and the administration.
Adam Shaw is a politics reporter for Fox News Digital, primarily covering immigration and border security. He can be reached at adam.shaw2@fox.com or on Twitter.
The legal battle between Florida and the Biden administration over parole releases at the southern border has significant implications for the handling of the ongoing crisis at the border. The case, which is currently before the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, began when Florida argued that the administration was violating statutory mandates that migrants be detained. The administration, on the other hand, argued that it was using its prosecutorial discretion to release migrants into alternatives to detention when necessary and that it could not detain all illegal immigrants due to capacity issues and the immigration court backlog.
The case resulted in the revelation of multiple pockets of information, including testimony from then Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz and the release of plans for the end of the Title 42 public health order. The battle culminated in a federal judge issuing a ban on the administration’s use of Parole + ATD in March 2023. In a scathing opinion, Judge T. Kent Wetherell stated that the Biden administration had “effectively turned the Southwest Border into a meaningless line in the sand and little more than a speedbump for aliens flooding into the country.”
This ruling had additional consequences in May when the same judge slapped an injunction on the use by the administration of a “parole with conditions” program, finding it to be materially identical to the parole + ATD program that he had blocked. The White House slammed the ruling as “sabotage, pure and simple” and argued that the releases were needed to reduce overcrowding.
The administration has consistently argued that it is following the laws passed by Congress but needs more funding and comprehensive immigration reform from Congress in order to deal with what it says is a hemisphere-wide crisis. It has more recently pointed to an increase in returns since the end of Title 42 in May, saying it has returned more migrants since May than in the entirety of FY 2019. It has also pointed to a record number of fentanyl seizures as a sign its increased technology is working.
Republicans at both state and federal levels have accused the administration of fueling the crisis with liberal immigration policies and the release of migrants into the interior. There were a record 302,000 migrant encounters in December after a record 2.4 million in FY 23. Separately, the administration is battling with states over immigration policy. Amid the ongoing fight with Florida, the administration also has multiple legal battles with Texas. This week, the Supreme Court overturned a ban on federal officials from cutting razor wire set up by Texas. It also has lawsuits challenging its recent anti-illegal immigration law and the establishment of buoys in the Rio Grande.
Moody stated, “Biden is ignoring the law and the opinion we obtained in federal court regarding his open border policies. He is wasting time and resources fighting Florida and Texas instead of doing his job and ending the border crisis. As a result, more than 8 million unvetted immigrants and hundreds of millions of deadly doses of fentanyl have flooded into our country with no signs of stopping as long as Biden is president.”
Congress is trying to find a deal on a border supplemental deal. The White House had requested $14 billion for aid to communities, expedited removal, and more staffing. But Republicans want that tied to tightened asylum rules and more restrictions on the use of parole. The subject of the battle between Florida and the administration.
Florida’s legal battle against the Biden administration’s parole releases at the southern border has significant implications for the handling of the ongoing crisis at the border. The case, which is currently before the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, began when Florida argued that the administration was violating statutory mandates that migrants be detained. The administration, on the other hand, argued that it was using its prosecutorial discretion to release migrants into alternatives to detention when necessary and that it could not detain all illegal immigrants due to capacity issues and the immigration court backlog.
The case resulted in the revelation of multiple pockets of information, including testimony from then Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz and the release of plans for the end of the Title 42 public health order. The battle culminated in a federal judge issuing a ban on the administration’s use of Parole + ATD in March 2023. In a scathing opinion, Judge T. Kent Wetherell stated that the Biden administration had “effectively turned the Southwest Border into a meaningless line in the sand and little more than a speedbump for aliens flooding into the country.”
This ruling had additional consequences in May when the same judge slapped an injunction on the use by the administration of a “parole with conditions” program, finding it to be materially identical to the parole + ATD program that he had blocked. The White House slammed the ruling as “sabotage, pure and simple” and argued that the releases were needed to reduce overcrowding.
The administration has consistently argued that it is following the laws passed by Congress but needs more funding and comprehensive immigration reform from Congress in order to deal with what it says is a hemisphere-wide crisis. It has more recently pointed to an increase in returns since the end of Title 42 in May, saying it has returned more migrants since May than in the entirety of FY 2019. It has also pointed to a record number of fentanyl seizures as a sign its increased technology is working.
Republicans at both state and federal levels have accused the administration of fueling the crisis with liberal immigration policies and the release of migrants into the interior. There were a record 302,000 migrant encounters in December after a record 2.4 million in FY 23. Separately, the administration is battling with states over immigration policy. Amid the ongoing fight with Florida, the administration also has multiple legal battles with Texas. This week, the Supreme Court overturned a ban on federal officials from cutting razor wire set up by Texas. It also has lawsuits challenging its recent anti-illegal immigration law and the establishment of buoys in the Rio Grande.
Moody stated, “Biden is ignoring the law and the opinion we obtained in federal court regarding his open border policies. He is wasting time and resources fighting Florida and Texas instead of doing his job and ending the border crisis. As a result, more than 8 million unvetted immigrants and hundreds of millions of deadly doses of fentanyl have flooded into our country with no signs of stopping as long as Biden is president.”
Congress is trying to find a deal on a border supplemental deal. The White House had requested $14 billion for aid to communities, expedited removal, and more staffing. But Republicans want that tied to tightened asylum rules and more restrictions on the use of parole. The subject of the battle between Florida and the administration.
The legal battle between Florida and the Biden administration over parole releases at the southern border has significant implications for the handling of the ongoing crisis at the border. The case, which is currently before the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, began when Florida argued that the administration was violating statutory mandates that migrants be detained. The administration, on the other hand, argued that it was using its prosecutorial discretion to release migrants into alternatives to detention when necessary and that it could not detain all illegal immigrants due to capacity issues and the immigration court backlog.
The case resulted in the revelation of multiple pockets of information, including testimony from then Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz and the release of plans for the end of the Title 42 public health order. The battle culminated in a federal judge issuing a ban on the administration’s use of Parole + ATD in March 2023. In a scathing opinion, Judge T. Kent Wetherell stated that the Biden administration had “effectively turned the Southwest Border into a meaningless line in the sand and little more than a speedbump for aliens flooding into the country.”
This ruling had additional consequences in May when the same judge slapped an injunction on the use by the administration of a “parole with conditions” program, finding it to be materially identical to the parole + ATD program that he had blocked. The White House slammed the ruling as “sabotage, pure and simple” and argued that the releases were needed to reduce overcrowding.
The administration has consistently argued that it is following the laws passed by Congress but needs more funding and comprehensive immigration reform from Congress in order to deal with what it says is a hemisphere-wide crisis. It has more recently pointed to an increase in returns since the end of Title 42 in May, saying it has returned more migrants since May than in the entirety of FY 2019. It has also pointed to a record number of fentanyl seizures as a sign its increased technology is working.
Republicans at both state and federal levels have accused the administration of fueling the crisis with liberal immigration policies and the release of migrants into the interior. There were a record 302,000 migrant encounters in December after a record 2.4 million in FY 23. Separately, the administration is battling with states over immigration policy. Amid the ongoing fight with Florida, the administration also has multiple legal battles with Texas. This week, the Supreme Court overturned a ban on federal officials from cutting razor wire set up by Texas. It also has lawsuits challenging its recent anti-illegal immigration law and the establishment of buoys in the Rio Grande.
Moody stated, “Biden is ignoring the law and the opinion we obtained in federal court regarding his open border policies. He is wasting time and resources fighting Florida and Texas instead of doing his job and ending the border crisis. As a result, more than 8 million unvetted immigrants and hundreds of millions of deadly doses of fentanyl have flooded into our country with no signs of stopping as long as Biden is president.”
Congress is trying to find a deal on a border supplemental deal. The White House had requested $14 billion for aid to communities, expedited removal, and more staffing. But Republicans want that tied to tightened asylum rules and more restrictions on the use of parole. The subject of the battle between Florida and the administration.
The legal battle between Florida and the Biden administration over parole releases at the southern border has significant implications for the handling of the ongoing crisis at the border. The case, which is currently before the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, began when Florida argued that the administration was violating statutory mandates that migrants be detained. The administration, on the other hand, argued that it was using its prosecutorial discretion to release migrants into alternatives to detention when necessary and that it could not detain all illegal immigrants due to capacity issues and the immigration court backlog.
The case resulted in the revelation of multiple pockets of information, including testimony from then Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz and the release of plans for the end of the Title 42 public health order. The battle culminated in a federal judge issuing a ban on the administration’s use of Parole + ATD in March 2023. In a scathing opinion, Judge T. Kent Wetherell stated that the Biden administration had “effectively turned the Southwest Border into a meaningless line in the sand and little more than a speedbump for aliens flooding into the country.”
This ruling had additional consequences in May when the same judge slapped an injunction on the use by the administration of a “parole with conditions” program, finding it to be materially identical to the parole + ATD program that he had blocked. The White House slammed the ruling as “sabotage, pure and simple” and argued that the releases were needed to reduce overcrowding.
The administration has consistently argued that it is following the laws passed by Congress but needs more funding and comprehensive immigration reform from Congress in order to deal with what it says is a hemisphere-wide crisis. It has more recently pointed to an increase in returns since the end of Title 42 in May, saying it has returned more migrants since May than in the entirety of FY 2019. It has also pointed to a record number of fentanyl seizures as a sign its increased technology is working.
Republicans at both state and federal levels have accused the administration of fueling the crisis with liberal immigration policies and the release of migrants into the interior. There were a record 302,000 migrant encounters in December after a record 2.4 million in FY 23. Separately, the administration is battling with states over immigration policy. Amid the ongoing fight with Florida, the administration also has multiple legal battles with Texas. This week, the Supreme Court overturned a ban on federal officials from cutting razor wire set up by Texas. It also has lawsuits challenging its recent anti-illegal immigration law and the establishment of buoys in the Rio Grande.
Moody stated, “Biden is ignoring the law and the opinion we obtained in federal court regarding his open border policies. He is wasting time and resources fighting Florida and Texas instead of doing his job and ending the border crisis. As a result, more than 8 million unvetted immigrants and hundreds of millions of deadly doses of fentanyl have flooded into our country with no signs of stopping as long as Biden is president.”
Congress is trying to find a deal on a border supplemental deal. The White House had requested $14 billion for aid to communities, expedited removal, and more staffing. But Republicans want that tied to tightened asylum rules and more restrictions on the use of parole. The subject of the battle between Florida and the administration.
The legal battle between Florida and the