Judge Blocks Biden Administration’s Immigration Enforcement Restrictions
Evolving precedent derails an expanding evisceration of ICE
By Andrew R. Arthur on August 23, 2021
On August 19, in a suit filed by the states of Texas and Louisiana against DHS, Judge Drew Tipton of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas issued an order enjoining restrictions that the Biden administration imposed on immigration agents in their enforcement of the immigration laws against criminal aliens. I would like to say that’s the final word on the administration’s efforts to block immigration enforcement, but it’s more likely just the latest chapter in an ongoing, 10-plus-year saga.
Those restrictions are set forth in two documents: A memo issued by then-Acting DHS Secretary David Pekoske on January 20, captioned "Review of and Interim Revision to Civil Immigration Enforcement and Removal Policies and Priorities” and a February 18 memo from Acting ICE Director Tae Johnson, captioned “Interim Guidance: Civil Immigration Enforcement and Removal Priorities” .
I have described and analyzed both of those memos several times in the past. The Pekoske memo limited DHS’s civil immigration enforcement priorities to three groups: spies and terrorists; aliens who entered illegally or were not present after the arbitrary date of October 31; and incarcerated aliens convicted of “aggravated felonies” who are “are determined to pose a threat to public safety”.
https://cis.org/Arthur/Judge-Blocks-Biden-Administrations-Immigration-Enforcement-Restrictions
