Last year, the Ministry of Homeland Security issued guidelines directing immigration and customs agents to arrest immigrants considered to be risks to public security or national security and recent ones crossing the border. Friday’s decision rejects those guidelines, noting the latest legal hurdle for the Biden administration on immigration.
The decision takes effect seven days later.
Judge Drew Tipton of the Texas South District Court found that while the federal government has discretion, the guidelines bind officials in a “summary, forward-looking manner.”
“It is true that the executive has the right to decide on a case-by-case basis to abandon the application of immigration to a particular person. However, this case does not involve individual decision-making. Instead, this case is a rule that binds Homeland Security officials in a generalized, forward-looking way – all in violation of the Congressional detention mandate, “wrote Tipton, appointed by Donald Trump.
The decision stems from a lawsuit filed by the states of Texas and Louisiana. The case concerns a provision in immigration law that undocumented immigrants who have committed crimes will be detained at the ICE once released. The Biden administration’s memorandum seeks to prioritize ICE’s resources for detaining undocumented immigrants based on the nature of the crimes they have committed.
Earlier, Tipton had spoken out against a January interim note limiting enforcement measures. The latest decision concerns similar guidelines issued last September.
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