"The evidence establishes that Defendants have effectively turned the Southwest Border into a meaningless line in the sand and little more than a speedbump for aliens flooding into the country," U.S. District Judge Judge T. Kent Wetherell, a Trump appointee, said in the ruling.
So now what?
Wetherell struck down Alternatives to Detention, a program through which President Joe Biden’s administration has released more than one million aliens into the U.S. interior.
Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody, a Republican, sued the government in 2021 over the policy, arguing the catch-and-release policy violated federal law.
Biden administration officials have claimed they had the discretion not to hold immigrants and that Florida lacked standing.
Under Supreme Court precedent, immigration officials have "broad discretion" in carrying out immigration laws, but must adhere to laws established by Congress. The Immigration and Nationality Act, one such law, states that immigrants who arrive at the border without proper documents are subject to quick removal without a hearing or review. Immigrants who claim asylum can have their claims heard but "shall be detained" until the claims are resolved.
The "shall be detained" wording "means what it says and that is a mandatory requirement," Wetherell said in the new ruling.
The judge also said Florida has standing because it has a procedural right under Administrative Procedure Act and a quasi-sovereign interest in its territory and on illegal aliens being within that territory. The government’s failure to hold immigrants as required by the Immigration and Nationality Act, according to the judge, harms states because "they cannot do anything to keep those aliens out of the state." States are also harmed because they have to spend money to deal with the aliens, the ruling said.Send 'em all back? Oh, the horror! So unfair! Lots of harpy screeching.