Joe Biden's 100-day freeze on deportations has been temporarily blocked nationwide by US District Judge Drew Tipton for 14 days, as reported by Reuters.
Per the outlet, the Biden administration is expected to appeal the order, which blocks the 100-day moratorium while both sides submit briefs on the issues.
Before taking office last week, Biden's shared plans of a 100-day pause on deportations if elected.
Soon after Biden started his first term as president, the top official at the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ordered the moratorium to allow the department to deal with “operational challenges” at the US-Mexico border amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
Watch President Biden deliver his Inaugural Address:On Friday, (January 22), the state's attorney general Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit against DHS in an attempt to reverse the new administration's freeze on deportations.
Paxton said the moratorium violates federal law, as well as the contract DHS signed with Texas in the last few weeks of President Donald Trump's presidency.
In the contract, the federal government assured Texas written warning and “veto power over immigration law” for 180 days before bringing about any substantial changes to immigration policy.
Mr. Paxton said in a statement:
“In one of its first of dozens of steps that harm Texas and the nation as a whole, the Biden administration directed DHS to violate federal immigration law and breach an agreement to consult and cooperate with Texas on that law.
“Our state defends the largest section of the southern border in the nation. Failure to properly enforce the law will directly and immediately endanger our citizens and law enforcement personnel.
“DHS itself has previously acknowledged that such a freeze on deportations will cause concrete injuries to Texas. I am confident that these unlawful and perilous actions cannot stand. The rule of law and security of our citizens must prevail.”
Per Reuters, Tipton, an appointee of Trump in the Southern District of Texas, said in the order that Texas had “a substantial likelihood of success” on the claim that the moratorium violated federal immigration law.
The law states that authorities “shall remove” immigrants with final deportation orders within 90 days.
Tipton also said it was 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 deportation freeze.
In response to the ruling, Paxton said a pause on deportations would “endanger Texans and undermine federal law.”
