A judge has reversed Washington’s limits on immigration enforcement, arguing they violate federal law
Texas Federal Judge Drew Tipton on Friday struck down the immigration enforcement restrictions adopted by the administration of US President Joe Biden, arguing the attempt to limit the actions of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency constituted a violation of federal immigration law.
The administration’s restrictions went beyond mere guidance offered to ICE agents, Judge Tipton wrote, instead “provid[ing] a new basis on which aliens may avoid being subject to the enforcement of immigration law,” and therefore required the normal notice-and-comment period offered under the Administrative Procedures Act (APA).
The ruling was a response to a lawsuit filed by the states of Texas and Louisiana, which sued the Biden administration last April for its alleged refusal to enforce immigration law. At issue was a policy change announced two months before that required the ICE to prioritize the arrest and deportation of only illegals with recent convictions for aggravated felonies or who were known terrorists or gang members. It effectively prevented the agency from deporting 90% of the illegal aliens they would otherwise have sent home.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton accused the president’s cabinet of “demonstrating a blatant disregard for Texans’ and Americans’ safety,” and the suit asked the judge to rule that the Biden administration’s new limits on ICE activities constituted a violation of both the APA and federal immigration law.
While Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas argued that simply being in the US without authorization “should not alone be the basis” for deportation or arrest, and the Biden administration’s lawyers defended its policy to focus only on so-called “aggravated felons” as a reasonable use of prosecutorial discretion, Judge Tipton argued the administration was by law restricted to altering immigration law within the bounds set by Congress.
Paxton hailed the ruling as a “massive defeat for the Biden administration,” accusing the president’s cabinet of trying to “throw out immigration law.”
The ruling will not officially be implemented until next Friday in order to give the Biden administration time to appeal. A DHS spokesperson told Fox News the agency is “assessing the court order and considering next steps” regarding whether to challenge the ruling.
The Biden administration’s efforts to increase the permeability of the US’ southern border have met with strong legal resistance from border states and certain members of the opposition Republican Party. The Democrats’ attempt to end Title 42, a public health rule used under the Trump administration to keep out potentially Covid-19-infected migrants, was blocked by a federal judge in Louisiana, while other Trump-era border rules have also been ordered to be reinstated.
From Biden’s inauguration in January 2021 until this past April, over three-quarters of a million illegal immigrants entered the US, a figure so high it would take the DHS 14.5 years under the current rate of deportation to send them all back to their countries of origin. Nearly 123,000 unaccompanied minors were also caught and resettled around the US during 2021, and neither figure includes the hundreds of thousands of migrants who are never apprehended by Customs and Border Patrol or ICE.
The UN issued a statement on Saturday calling for attacks on civilians by multiple armed groups in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to “immediately cease”.
The move builds on Canada’s mandate to include graphic photo warnings on tobacco products’ packaging. The government anticipates the changes coming into force in the latter half of 2023.
The US is not seeking to split the region into blocs, but is focused on “maintaining stability,” the secretary of defense has said
Washington is not seeking to create an “Asian NATO” or stir up confrontation in the Indo-Pacific region, but rather is focused on maintaining stability, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said on Saturday.
In a keynote speech at the Shangri-La Dialogue, Asia’s top security conference, Austin said, “the stakes are especially stark in the Taiwan Strait.” This comes amid multiple warnings from China against US military cooperation with Taiwan, which Beijing considers to be part of its territory.
Austin stressed that Washington’s policy regarding Taiwan remains unchanged – the US is committed to the One-China policy, “categorically opposes any unilateral changes in the status quo,” and therefore does not support the island’s independence.
While believing any “cross-strait differences must be resolved by peaceful means,” Austin stated that the US would continue to assist Taiwan “in maintaining a sufficient self-defense capability.”
Austin said that amid “growing coercion” from China and its “provocative and destabilizing military activity near Taiwan,” the US remains focused on “maintaining peace, stability, and the status quo across the Taiwan Strait” which are apparently threatened by Beijing. Maintaining peace, Austin stressed, is not just in Washington’s interests but also “a matter of international concern.”
So let me be clear. We do not seek confrontation or conflict. And we do not seek a new Cold War, an Asian NATO, or a region split into hostile blocs.
On Friday, Austin held a meeting with his Chinese counterpart, General Wei Fenghe, who told him Beijing would “fight at all costs” to prevent Taiwan from breaking away from China.
Just two days ago China “strongly condemned” Washington’s approval of a $120 million arms deal with Taiwan, and has called upon the parties to cancel the arrangement. Speaking at a regular briefing on Thursday, the Chinese Foreign Ministry’s spokesman said the arms sales “seriously violate the one-China principle,” undermine China’s sovereignty and security interests, and “severely harm China-US relations and peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.”
Last month, US President Joe Biden declared that America would involve its military in any potential conflict between China and Taiwan, seemingly disregarding the US’ long-standing policy of ‘strategic ambiguity’ on the island and its relationship with Beijing. Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken walked back Biden’s statement and declared that the US stands by the One-China policy – which recognizes but does not endorse Beijing’s sovereignty over Taiwan, and neither guarantees nor rules out US military intervention should China threaten to assimilate Taiwan by force.
The island is a self-governing territory which has been de facto self-ruled since 1949, when the losing side in the Chinese Civil War fled and set up its own government in Taipei. Beijing views the Taiwanese authorities as separatists, insisting that Taiwan is an inalienable part of China.
Rose Mary Tiep, fled domestic abuse and the conflict in South Sudan five years ago. Today she is helping others through their trauma in an Ugandan refugee camp, as part of a UN-backed support programme.
