Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, denounced the Florida court’s decision on Friday to halt an emergency mass parole program at the southern border, calling it “sabotage.”
U.S. District Judge Thomas Wetherell of Florida’s Northern District ruled on Thursday that the Border Patrol lacked the authority to release illegal aliens without first scheduling a hearing before an immigration court and establishing a plan to monitor their whereabouts.
Jean-Pierre expressed her interpretation of the ruling during a press conference, stating, “Let’s be honest: That seems like a deliberate act of sabotage to us. At the very least, that’s how we perceive it. The claims that CBP is allowing or promoting mass releases of migrants are completely untrue.”
After receiving a letter from Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz on Wednesday, Attorney General Ashley Moody filed a legal challenge against the policy. Severe overcrowding along the southern border has been a pressing issue this week, prompting Ortiz to authorize the “parole” of certain individuals.
Ortiz implemented specific triggers that, when met, would allow Border Patrol officers to rapidly release large numbers of migrants, a program referred to by Texas Governor Greg Abbott as “mass catch and release.”
The Department of Homeland Security argued that the fast-track parole program was necessary to prevent “catastrophic” congestion at Border Patrol facilities, estimating that government facilities along the southern border could become overwhelmed with up to 45,000 migrants by the end of the month.
Wetherell, a Trump appointee, stated, “The defendants’ exaggerated doomsday scenario lacks substance,” highlighting that even President Biden recently acknowledged that the border has been in turmoil for years. They themselves admitted that “this crisis is largely a result of their own policies, which have encouraged the growth of so-called ‘irregular migration’ over the past two years.”
Without the parole provision, illegal aliens will have to follow the regular immigration and asylum procedures outlined in Title 8. However, due to the existing backlog of immigration cases, the court may not be able to schedule hearings for them for several years.
Wetherell has requested a temporary restraining order to prevent Ortiz’s memorandum from being implemented at this time. Moody previously contested a similar immigration strategy, including parole and “alternatives to detention” methods for processing unauthorized individuals, which was enacted by the Biden administration in 2021. In March, a judge ruled that the policy was unlawful.
According to the court, there is “no substantial difference” between the two policies. In essence, both instances involve the expedited release of aliens into the country with minimal screening and tracking, without initiating deportation proceedings.