Biden Tries to Revive Enforcement Stand-Down

August 31, 2021

IRLI opposes move to lift injunction in appellate court

WASHINGTON—Yesterday, the Immigration Reform Institute (IRLI) filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals opposing an emergency motion by the Biden Administration to suspend, pending appeal, a district court’s injunction against the administration’s immigration enforcement priorities, which have resulted in the release of many dangerous criminal aliens into the country.

In its brief, IRLI shows how these enforcement priorities violate the law by preventing immigration officers from taking mandatory enforcement actions against a broad range of aliens. Under the enforcement guidelines, officers may only use their authority to apprehend, detain, or remove terrorists, spies, other national security threats, those who entered the United States after November 1, 2020, aggravated felons, and criminal gang members. Officers are blocked from apprehending, detaining, or removing any other aliens, including the vast majority of criminal aliens. Because of this patent illegality, IRLI demonstrates, the administration has no chance of success in its appeal of the injunction, and thus the injunction should not be suspended during that appeal.

In its brief, IRLI also places Biden’s priorities in their larger context: a whole series of Biden non-enforcement policies that, working together, have explosively increased unlawful entry by aliens—including many fugitives from justice and other criminals—from around the world.

“It is simply undeniable that the Biden plan is to reduce enforcement to such low levels that illegal entry, including entry by criminals, keeps skyrocketing,” said Dale L. Wilcox, executive director and general counsel of IRLI. “The enforcement ‘priorities’ stand-down a key component of this deliberate, across-the-board policy. We need relief from the enforcement stand-down now, not after a lengthy appeal. We hope the court sees the low chance the administration has of winning its appeal, and keeps the injunction in force.”

The case is Texas v. United States, No. 21-40618 (Fifth Circuit).