Ashley Moody Joins Legal Challenge to Biden Administration’s Immigration Policies

On Wednesday, Moody announced she was joining the challenge on “interim guidance, which drastically and intentionally curtails immigration enforcement.” Moody’s office offered some of the reasons behind the challenge.

“The policy dramatically limits nearly all deportations and immigration-related arrests, including for those convicted of serious and even violent crimes, whom Congress has specifically directed the federal government to arrest and detain, but a federal judge recently ruled that the policy is unlawful. The coalition is asking the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals to deny the Biden administration’s request for a stay of that ruling pending appeal so that President Biden’s illegal refusal to enforce the immigration laws will be halted while the administration’s appeal is ongoing,” Moody’s office noted. “The legal theory, in this case, is substantially similar to one advanced by Florida in its own lawsuit challenging the Biden administration’s reckless policies, which Attorney General Moody filed in March.”

Moody weighed in on the challenge on Wednesday.

“Instead of following the direction of the court to enforce federal law, President Biden is seeking an emergency order to keep his illegal policies in place. Every day he ignores federal law, we become less safe. I am joining my colleagues from 17 other states in calling on the court to deny the Biden administration’s motion to stay as soon as possible so we can end the chaos at our southern border and protect the American people,” Moody said.

“In the amicus brief, the attorneys general detail how the interim guidance is fueling the border crisis and directly harming their states by imposing monetary costs and creating serious public safety risks. The interim guidance resulted in the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement lifting detainers on criminals who, rather than being deported after completing their sentences, are released into our communities, without any warning to the public,” Moody’s office noted. “The attorneys general argue that the interim guidance is encouraging illegal border crossings because migrants know they will not be deported, even if they commit serious crimes. Since the policy’s implementation in February, apprehensions along the Southern Border have increased every month. In July, the U.S. Border Patrol reported more than 200,000 encounters with migrants along the U.S.-Mexico Border—the highest figure in 21 years. In stark contrast, encounters numbered only around 78,000 in January, and 41,000 in July 2020.”

With Louisiana and Texas bringing the lawsuit, Moody joined the attorneys general of Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah and West Virginia in backing it.