ICE Agents, Sheriffs Sue Biden for Forcing Them to Violate Federal Immigration Law
Since taking up office, President Joe Biden’s mishandling of the crisis at the souther border has been historically appalling.
Migrant caravans continue to head to the U.S. in droves, detention facilities are packed to the brim with unaccompanied children and illegal border crossings have hit a 20-year high.
All of this is due to Biden’s insistence that he undo many of his predecessor’s most lauded immigration enforcement policies.
It is far from a stretch to note that Biden’s immigration agenda has been both reckless and destructive.
That agenda may also be illegal, according to a recent lawsuit.
On Thursday, a group of sheriffs and active Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers decided to sue the Biden administration for handing down “unlawful and unconstitutional” orders to immigration officers.
The orders, issued in a Feb. 18 memorandum, instructed immigration officers to “refrain from placing aliens who are unlawfully present in the United States (‘illegal aliens’) into removal proceedings.”
“[T]he February 18 Memorandum commands ICE officers to violate the specific terms of several federal immigration statutes, violates the Administrative Procedure Act (“APA”), and violates the obligation of the executive branch faithfully to execute the law, as required by Article II, Section 3, of the United States Constitution,” the lawsuit reads.
According to the lawsuit, by illegally ordering ICE and other law enforcement agencies to abandon the law and their duties, Biden has allowed dangerous criminal aliens to run free.
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“When Plaintiff sheriffs or their deputies arrest illegal aliens who have committed crimes, their offices inform ICE, or in some cases CBP. Prior to the February 18 Memorandum, ICE issued detainer requests and/or took custody of such aliens and initiated removal proceedings against them as the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) requires,” the lawsuit reads.
“Since the issuance of the February 18 Memorandum, ICE officers have been unable to take custody of, or issue detainer requests for, dangerous criminal aliens whose detention is mandated by the INA.”
“Many extremely dangerous illegal aliens who would have been detained prior to the February 18 Memorandum are now not being detained—against the wishes of the ICE officers seeking to detain them, and in violation of federal statutes requiring their detention and/or removal,” the lawsuit says.
According to the lawsuit, Biden’s hamstringing of ICE has greatly contributed to the current border crisis.
“As a result of the February 18 Memorandum and its implementation, the number of arrests and removals by ICE has dropped precipitously, to levels one-third of what they were prior to the beginning of the Biden Administration,” the lawsuit reads.
“This standdown in ICE enforcement has fueled a crisis at the border and in other Texas counties, encouraging a massive surge in illegal immigration.”
In other words, Biden has mishandled the border so spectacularly that now his own federal agents are suing him.
The brave men and women defending America’s borders aren’t just looking to force Biden to answer for his ineptitude.
They’re also looking to make him answer for his crimes.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
