Biden Admin Rewards Illegal Aliens for Ignoring Court Orders to Go Home
Settlement cancels fines and final orders in latest effort to undermine immigration law
By Jon Feere on June 23, 2023
The federal government can levy fines on foreign nationals for failing to return to their home country after receiving an order from an immigration judge to do so. Congress created these penalties in order to encourage compliance with the nation’s immigration laws. Though this important tool has existed in federal law since the 1990s, it went unused for decades until the Trump administration started to issue fines to illegal aliens who were evading law enforcement in sanctuaries.
One of the first acts of the Biden administration was to prohibit ICE from using this statutory tool, a clear indicator the administration doesn’t care about compliance with immigration law. But now it’s gone further and cancelled the removal orders of a handful of illegal aliens who received the fines, and gave them "deferred action" for three years, meaning protection from deportation and potentially work permits. (Read the settlement agreement here.)
The individuals in these cases had their full day in court. They were ordered to go home. After a number of years of ignoring the removal order, ICE issued them a fine. The aliens could have paid it, they could have returned home as ordered, but because they apparently believe they are above the law, they decided to hide out in so-called “sanctuary churches” in continued violation of federal law. Now, the Biden administration is siding with these lawbreakers and against the rulings of immigration judges.
Fines are critical for creating compliance with the nation’s immigration system, but the Biden administration is run by people who fundamentally don’t believe the American people have a right to live in a sovereign nation. They are not interested in creating compliance because they don’t believe immigration laws should exist; the natural follow-through is allowing foreigners to ignore the directions and decisions from immigration officers and judges. It is impossible to run a functioning immigration system under conditions like this, and every immigration judge should speak out.
https://cis.org/Feere/Biden-Admin-Rewards-Illegal-Aliens-Ignoring-Court-Orders-Go-Home
