The Biden administration on Monday told a Florida judge that it did not violate a court order granted last week to Attorney General Ashley Moody — even though thousands of illegals were released after the order took effect.
As The Free Press reported last week, Moody, a Republican, went to court to pause the administration’s catch-and-release program for illegal immigrants.
She argued the “parole” program, as the Border Patrol refers to it, must be halted because it violated federal law and an earlier court order issued in March by U.S. District Judge T. Kent Wetherell.
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Wetherell agreed and granted the injunction, which took effect at midnight on Friday, the day after the expiration of Title 42, the federal law that allows the U.S. government to expel illegal immigrants without a hearing because of a public health emergency.
The Washington Times reported on Sunday that the Department of Homeland Security released more than 2,500 illegals on Friday after the judge’s order went into effect.
On Monday, the DHS claimed it did not violate Wetherell’s directive.
DHS official David Bemiller told the judge in court records that his order was “generally” followed because most of the 2,500 were processed for release before Wetherell’s deadline.
Bemiller admitted that DHS did release 2,576 illegals on Friday, but that occurred because the agency doesn’t release people overnight. Thus, they were let go the following day.
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Still, Bemiller also admitted that DHS could not confirm whether the agency complied with the judge’s order in 167 cases. In those instances, DHS did not record a processing time for 130 people, while the other 37 were released from custody in violation of Wetherell’s directions.
Bemiller request 48 hours to learn the disposition of those cases.
According to the Times, the Border Patrol told the judge the choice was between catch-and-release or not capturing them at all.
But the parole program has been a way for the Biden administration to skirt immigration laws that liberal Democrats don’t like or want enforced.
Since Oct. 1, 2021, the administration has cited parole, which is to be used only in extraordinary circumstances, to release 1.5 million illegals into the country.
The Times had reported that in addition to the 2,576 released on Friday, DHS had simply let go of roughly 6,400 others the day Title 42 expired.
On Monday, Moody criticized DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for claiming that was “fraction” of the total number encountered by the Border Patrol the day before Title 42 expired.
“It’s actually the MAJORITY!” she tweeted, noting that Mayorkas had been caught in “another lie.”
“The injunctive relief Florida secured last week temporarily stopped @DHSgov from continuing to mass-release immigrants into the interior of the U.S.,” Moody added.
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