U.S. District Judge Drew Tipton bared the Biden administration on Tuesday 1/26/2021 from enforcing 100-day deportation moratorium.
A restraining order sought by Texas, which sued on Friday against a Department of Homeland Security memo that instructed immigration agencies to pause most deportations. Tipton said the Biden administration had failed “to provide any concrete, reasonable justification for a 100-day pause on deportations.”
U.S. District Judge Drew Tipton, an appointee of former President Donald Trump in the Southern District of Texas, issued a temporary restraining order that blocks the policy nationwide for 14 days following a legal challenge by Texas.
In a complaint filed on Friday, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said the state would face irreparable harm if the deportation freeze was allowed to go into effect. Paxton, a Republican, said it would increase education and healthcare costs as more immigrants remained in Texas illegally.
Tipton said in the order on Tuesday that Texas had “a substantial likelihood of success” on at least two of its claims, including that the deportation freeze violated a federal immigration law stating that authorities “shall remove” immigrants with final deportation orders within 90 days.
The judge also found it likely that Texas would succeed on its claim that the Biden administration “arbitrarily and capriciously departed from its previous policy without sufficient explanation” when it issued the moratorium.
During Trump’s presidency, Democrat-led states and other opponents of his immigration policies were able to thwart or delay many initiatives through legal challenges. Texas is expected to contest Biden’s agenda in a similar fashion.