A Florida federal judge temporarily blocked Biden's immigrant parole policy
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A federal judge in Florida struck down the Biden administration's use of probation to mass release migrants into the US.
A federal judge in Florida issued an order that temporarily prevents the Biden administration from granting parole to undocumented immigrants who enter the United States legally, on humanitarian parole “with conditions” (Parole with Conditions), which allows immigration authorities to release to immigrants under certain conditions, if immigration facilities are overcrowded.
The ruling responds to a Florida government lawsuit alleging that authorities were ignoring a federal law that requires immigrants entering the country illegally to be detained and that was filed just as Title 42 enforcement at the border was ending.
Title 42 is an emergency health authorization that was imposed by the administration of President Donald Trump and began in March 2020. The authorization allowed US officials to turn away migrants who arrived at the US-Mexico border with the argument of preventing the spread of Covid and was in force until Thursday, May 11.
Judge Kent Wetherell blocked for at least two weeks that emergency measure from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that would allow migrants in custody to be granted parole without having to appear before judicial authorities.
Wetherell, appointed by former Republican President Donald Trump (2017-2021), made the decision on Thursday, when he finalized Title 42 that allowed the immediate expulsion of undocumented migrants in the United States.
The blockade imposed by Judge Wetherell follows a Border Patrol memorandum that proposes allowing immigrants to enter the US to be on parole, which is usually reserved for cases in which the Office of Customs and Protection Border Patrol (CBP) is facing overcrowding issues.
The Biden administration had argued that parole may be a necessary alternative and that an order restricting parole risked causing chaos and endangering border security and border officials.
The Biden administration has approached Judge Wetherell that there remains a significant risk that the increase in immigrant arrivals will be large enough that these measures will be insufficient to mitigate the risk of overcrowding at border facilities.