Texas SUES Biden administration’s DHS over interim rule on asylum seekers

04/29/2022 / By Ramon Tomey

The state of Texas sued the Biden administration’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS) over its interim rule that relaxed the screening process for asylum seekers.

Texas Attorney General (AG) Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit on April 28 that seeks a permanent ruling against an interim rule allowing Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS) officers to decide if asylum seekers could continue staying in the country. Defendants in the lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas include President Joe Biden, DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, the Department of Justice (DOJ), its head, U.S. AG Merrick Garland and CIS Director Ur Jaddou.

Under the interim rule announced by the DHS and DOJ in March, CIS officers would be permitted to screen applicants subject to expedited removal from the country. Those who claim they fear torture or persecution in their country of origin can stay if they successfully pass a test. Immigration judges are typically tasked to carry out credible fear screenings.

Paxton, however, argued in his lawsuit that the interim rule violates the law as it limits the power of immigration judges. This, he added, enables the “release [of] even more illegal aliens.” (Related: Texas files, WINS, first major lawsuit against Biden regime over refusal to deport illegal alien criminals.)

“The interim rule transfers significant authority from immigration judges to asylum officers, grants [the latter] significant additional authority, limits immigration judge review to denials of applications and upends the entire adjudicatory system to the benefit of aliens.”

The Lone Star State’s Republican AG defended his lawsuit, the 11th one he filed in relation to immigration policy, in an April 28 press release. “The last thing Texas needs is for [the Biden] administration to make it easier for illegal aliens to enter the U.S. and obtain asylum through false claims and less oversight,” he said.

“It’s true that our immigration system is extremely backlogged. But the answer is to secure the border, not overwhelm it even more by enacting cheap, easy incentives for illegal aliens to get into the United States.”

Texas transporting illegals to Washington, DC

Paxton’s lawsuit against the Biden administration came amid concurrent efforts by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to transport illegal immigrants to Washington, D.C. by bus. The first bus loaded with illegal immigrants from Latin American countries such as Colombia, Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela arrived in D.C. on April 13.

“As the federal government continues to turn a blind eye to the border crisis, the state of Texas will remain steadfast in our efforts to fill in the gaps and keep Texans safe. By busing [illegal immigrants] to Washington, D.C., the Biden administration will be able to more immediately meet the needs of the people they are allowing to cross our border. Texas should not have to bear the burden of the Biden administration’s failure to secure our border,” Abbott said in an April 13 statement.

A second busload of illegal immigrants arrived in D.C. on April 14, almost 21 hours after the first one.

During a press conference in Laredo, Texas, Abbott said additional migrants will be bused or flown into Washington to make the White House and Congress “respond and deal with the same challenges [Texas] is dealing with.”

“There’s one thing that is perfectly clear, and that is the Biden administration and a lot of leaders in Congress have no idea about the chaos they have caused by their open border policies. And they refuse to come down and see first hand and talk to the people who are really most adversely affected. If they’re not going to come to the border, I’m going to take the border to them,” he told reporters.

Subsequent buses of migrants arrived in D.C., with Abbott confirming the arrival of a tenth bus in an April 22 statement. It also remarked that the illegals bused to the federal capital now consist of nationals from Latin America and Africa.

GreaterTexan.com has more on the Lone Star State’s fight against the Biden administration’s lenient immigration policy.

Watch Texas AG Ken Paxton talk about the impacts of President Joe Biden’s immigration policy.

This video is from the NewsClips channel on Brighteon.com.