A court granted a preliminary injunction to Texas on President Joe Biden’s moratorium on deportations of certain people until there is a resolution in the case, records show.
The court granted a preliminary injunction Wednesday that pauses the Biden administration from deporting certain people from the country. U.S. District Judge Drew B. Tipton granted the injunction after a temporary order, which was handed down Jan. 27, expired Tuesday.
That order and this preliminary injunction prevents the U.S. Department of Homeland Security from implementing a pause on deportations, a move Texas argues would cause great harm.
“This TRO is granted on a nationwide basis and prohibits enforcement and implementation of the policies described in the January 20 Memorandum… Immediate 100-Day Pause on Removals,” the court record shows. “…In every place Defendants have jurisdiction to enforce and implement the January 20 Memorandum.”
The injunction is related to a lawsuit brought by the Texas attorney general against DHS, claiming it had broken an agreement it had entered into with the state and other jurisdictions regarding immigration policy.
According to the lawsuit, the agreement was violated when Biden signed a set of memos and executive orders related to immigration, including a 100-day pause on the deportations of certain persons with final deportation orders.
The government argues the lawsuit is unenforceable.
The lawsuit was related to a pledge made by the Trump administration with Texas, Arizona, Louisiana, Indiana, and Rockingham County, in North Carolina that required DHS to provide a 180-day written notice before enacting any immigration policy changes and that diverts power to these jurisdictions.
In the 105-page filing granting the extension Wednesday, the court found Texas’ claims of injury due to the 100-day pause on deportations valid; stating in part that the court “has found that Texas’s injuries from costs relating to detention facilities and public education were sufficient.”
In short, the court ruled Texas satisfied elements to grant the preliminary injunction.
Representatives for the American Civil Liberties Union, which is listed as a defendant in the lawsuit, decried the extension as a continued attack on immigration communities.
“Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton continues to perpetuate harms against our immigrant communities and to seek to force the Biden administration to follow the xenophobic policies of former president Trump,” ACLU attorney Kate Huddleston said in a release Wednesday.
“Allowing these deportations to continue means that families will be torn apart and that people who have the opportunity to seek relief in the United States will be returned to danger. At the same time that Texans face a long recovery from a deadly winter storm, Paxton is inflicting yet another trauma on our communities by creating fear and uncertainty.”
The injunction will remain in effect until either there is “final resolution of the merits of this case..” or until Tipton, or a higher court, orders otherwise, the court record shows.
