Federal Judge Blocks Biden's 100-Day Deportation Freeze After Texas Sues Administration

A federal judge in Texas temporarily blocked President Joe Biden's executive order to have a deportation freeze of certain undocumented immigrants for a 100-day period.

On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Drew Tipton, appointee of former President Donald Trump, issued a temporary restraining order blocking the deportation freeze policy nationwide.

Tipton set the policy back for 14 days after Texas General Ken Paxton challenged it in court.

According to Texas Tribune, Paxton alleged the moratorium was unconstitutional and violated an agreement between the Department of Homeland Security and Texas

This block on the deportation freeze was an immediate setback for Biden's ambitious immigration agenda, said an article from The Epoch Times.

Biden proposed far-reaching changes like legalizing about 11 million undocumented immigrants living in America. He also issued an order halting all construction on the U.S.-Mexico border wall.

Texas AG Hails Victory Against Deportation Freeze

When Trump was in office, Democrats and immigration activists filed countless lawsuits that aimed to stop immigration provisions like the border wall.

After Paxton's victory and the hundreds of judge appointments Trump made during his term in office, more Republicans are expected to do the same, The Epoch Times added.

"Within 6 days of Biden's inauguration, Texas has HALTED his illegal deportation freeze," Paxton said in a tweet. He called the president's move "a seditious left-wing insurrection" which his team stopped.

He also hailed his team's victorious lawsuit, noting that Texas was the first state to bring a lawsuit against Biden's administration and won.

When filing the suit, Paxton argued that opening up America to undocumented immigrants could lead to financial harm because of costs associated with health care and education, Texas Tribune noted. The court agreed to this argument.

"The Court finds that the foregoing establishes a substantial risk of imminent and irreparable harm to Texas," Tipton wrote.

Tiptop also found that Texas would likely succeed on its claim that when the current administration issued the moratorium, it "arbitrarily and capriciously departed from its previous policy without sufficient explanation."

Biden Administration to Appeal Texas Judge's Ruling

The Biden administration is expected to appeal the ruling on the deportation freeze while both parties submit briefs on the matter, said a report from Reuters.

After Biden was inaugurated into office on Wednesday, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a memo that ordered a freeze on many deportations. According to the memo, it was so the department can better deal with "operational challenges" at the U.S.-Mexico border during the pandemic.

Acting DHS Secretary David Pekoske said the deportation freeze would allow the department to "ensure that its resources are dedicated to responding to the most pressing challenges that the United States faces."

A spokesperson for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) told Reuters that there are about 1.2 million immigrants in the U.S. who were served final orders of deportation.

As of January 16, there have been around 6,000 detainees on ICE holding centers that have final deportation orders, but the number significantly dropped during the pandemic.