Below is an official statement from the office of Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody regarding an immigration bill in the U.S. Senate.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla.—Attorney General Ashley Moody and 15 other state attorneys general are strongly objecting to the United States Senate’s proposed border supplemental bill introduced this week. The attorneys general cited several concerns, imploring lawmakers to reject this bill.
Attorney General Ashley Moody said, “This bill is a mirage. It codifies many of the illegal actions President Biden has already taken. The president caused this crisis, and the fact is, he could begin strengthening the border tomorrow by simply enforcing the law.”
In a letter to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Attorney General Moody and the coalition of state attorneys general lay out several reasons why this bill should not be passed saying “…the proposed bill sets an arbitrary baseline number of encounters that is virtually equivalent to the crisis-level volume of immigration forced upon the country since Biden took office and allows the President to override the arbitrary numbers whenever he pleases.” The attorneys general go on to say this bill should not be tethered to the other provisions within the text, such as $60 billion for Ukraine.
The attorneys general also claim that this bill does not give the President any power he does not already have saying, “He does not have to wait for an arbitrary number of encounters before expelling illegal entrants. This bill would simply give him false cover to continue to allow thousands of foreigners each day to commit felonies by entering at other than ports of entry on the grounds that the arbitrary and waivable numbers have not yet been reached.”
The attorneys general take enhanced exception to a provision in the bill that would give the District Court for the District of Columbia the sole jurisdiction to hear legal and constitutional challenges to all the provisions within this bill saying, “This measure—sprung on the public and the Senate without warning—is a blatant attempt to sidestep any venue in the country even remotely close to the border. Doing so would drastically stack the deck against any legal challenges brought by the States against the federal government. This provision breaks with precedent. States—red and blue—have always been able to challenge federal policies in federal courts in their own states.”
U.S. immigration law currently provides the tools necessary to eliminate incentives for aliens to come to the country, eliminate policies that allow them to stay in the country, and deport those who enter illegally.
Attorney General Moody and the attorneys general from Alabama, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, West Virginia and Wyoming signed onto the letter.
The full letter can be read here.
