On Monday, the attorneys general from Arizona, Louisiana, and Missouri announced that they would be filing a suit challenging the expiration of Title 42, a public health order that allows the federal government to expedite the removal of migrants. Fox News reported:
The Republican states’ lawsuit argues that the Biden administration’s ending of Title 42 is not only bad policy, but is in breach of the notice-and-comment requirements set out in the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) and is "arbitrary and capricious" -- grounds under which other immigration policies have been struck down. A CDC spokesperson told Fox News that it does not comment on pending litigation.
The lawsuit, filed in a U.S. District Court in Louisiana, claims that the administration failed to estimate or account for the costs to the states. They cite "increased health care costs for aliens infected with COVID-19 and the cost of increased illegal immigration caused by the Termination Order, and the presence of much greater numbers of paroled aliens with non-meritorious asylum claims who were induced to enter the United States because of the Termination Order."
"While it’s difficult to identify President Biden’s most irresponsible move since taking office, rescinding Title 42 is certainly up there," Brnovich said in a statement. "It’s a ridiculously poor decision with a bad intention for border states and American communities across the country. This administration’s reckless pandering to the far Left and complete abdication of its responsibility to public safety cannot be allowed to continue."
As Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich explained, Title 42 is one of the last things keeping a major surge of illegal immigrants from crossing the Southern Border.
Our lawsuit to prevent the end of Title 42 is all about trying to protect American communities by stopping the Biden Administration from removing one of the only tools we have left in our toolbox to prevent an even further catastrophe at our southern border. pic.twitter.com/9D8lJxSn5k
— Mark Brnovich (@brnoforaz) April 5, 2022
The attorneys general of Florida, Alabama, and Georgia are also suing the Biden Administration for failure to enforce federal immigration law. A press release from Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody's office stated:
Attorney General Ashley Moody is bringing a multistate action against President Joe Biden for failing to enforce federal immigration law. The attorneys general of Alabama and Georgia joined Attorney General Moody in a complaint for declaratory and injunctive relief, arguing that the president is failing to perform the duties required by Congress by continuing to operate under unlawful immigration enforcement priorities. Under these priorities, the Biden administration is refusing to detain and deport criminals in the country illegally—directly contrary to federal law. . .
The immigration priorities, as is nearly every immigration policy from the Biden administration, are designed to weaken border security. Through multiple acts of legislation, Congress instructed the executive branch to arrest, detain and remove criminal aliens due to concerns that those who are not detained continue to engage in crime and fail to appear for removal proceedings.
The complaint filed by Attorney General Moody states: “The Biden Administration seeks to ‘dispense with’ these acts of Congress. It claims the discretion to decide…which aliens should be arrested, detained and removed, even if its policy preferences directly conflict with the clear commands of Congress. And it has used the claimed discretion to allow illegal immigrants guilty of drug trafficking, burglary and other serious crimes to return to our communities upon release from state custody rather than arresting and removing them as federal law requires.”
Republican attorneys general are the first line of defense against the radical policies of the Biden Administration, and they will continue to do defend the rights of states as Biden's Border Crisis continues to worsen.