Arizona AG Claims Biden's Immigration EOs Violated Environmental Laws
Republican Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich is suing the Biden administration over alleged environmental consequences over the border crisis.
Brnovich is arguing that President Joe Biden’s executive orders halting border wall construction and reversing the Trump administration’s “Remain in Mexico” policy violated the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969.
“The Biden administration is not following the National Environmental Protection Act, which requires any time the federal government or federal agency takes any major action that will impact our environment, that they have to do a national environmental impact study,” he said Monday, according to KPHO-TV.
We just filed a lawsuit alleging the Biden Administration illegally halted construction of the border wall and improperly rescinded the “Remain In Mexico” policy. The border crisis is out of control. We will not sit idly by as harms are done to our state. https://t.co/eEndIjns2Q
— Mark Brnovich (@GeneralBrnovich) April 12, 2021
The act stipulates that environmental resources should be balanced with population growth, which is incredibly difficult under the current circumstances for border states.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has been overwhelmed with the influx of people, resulting in poor, crowded conditions at many facilities.
In March, migrant apprehensions in Arizona hit 19,800 in the Tucson sector and 11,800 in the Yuma sector, and show no signs of stopping.
Local communities are also dealing with the impact, as some have been forced to take in illegal immigrants without the proper resources.
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There is an additional layer of concern due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, as the Federal Emergency Management Agency noted that the positivity rate from migrants was around 6 percent as of last month.
Democrats have typically used environmental policy as a device to prompt changes in other policy areas, and Arizona’s attorney general recognizes the power of doing so.
“I’m going to do everything I can to protect our communities and make sure the law is enforced,” he said.
“And if that means that I get to use the National Environmental Protection Act, which the left has used for decades now to force the government to do stuff or not to do stuff, I’m going to take a play out of their playbook,” Brnovich added.
“It’s the pinnacle of hypocrisy for the Biden administration to claim it wants to protect our environment while not enforcing federal statutes that are specifically designed for that purpose,” the attorney general added. “We’re not going to sit idly by as the Biden administration ignores real harms to our state resulting from its heavy-handed executive orders.”
The only reason Kamala Harris can avoid visiting the border crisis created by the Biden/Harris admin is because MSM refuses to call her out.
— Liz Wheeler (@Liz_Wheeler) April 13, 2021
The White House has yet to take decisive action in an attempt to hide the fact that the administration made a mistake by reversing prior policies.
It was nice to be able to host Governor @DougDucey in our DC office today, where we discussed important issues like continuing to get more vaccines into Arizonans’ arms, addressing the crisis at our border, and bringing more semiconductor manufacturing jobs to Arizona. pic.twitter.com/oNqFJbVOFc
— Senator Mark Kelly (@SenMarkKelly) April 12, 2021
While the lawsuit could be viewed as frivolous by Democrats, Arizona is left with few options to prompt action from the federal government.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
