Florida AG sues Biden to block migrants after Title 42 ends

Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody sued the Biden Administration in federal court Thursday to block the mass release of migrants into the US after the expiration of the Title 42 public health order.

Moody is seeking a temporary restraining order to stem the expected influx, arguing that Biden’s current parole policy mirrors a similar order that was struck down by a federal judge last month.

Currently, vetted migrants who cannot be processed by overburdened border authorities will be allowed to enter the country.

Moody’s filing asserts that the approach echoes a prior policy that allowed undocumented migrants to be paroled into the nation’s interior if local officials could not accommodate them.

Asserting that the allowance turned the border into a “meaningless line in the sand,” a Florida federal judge struck down the policy as unconstitutional last month.

Moody argued that Biden’s latest strategy was “materially identical” to the prior policy and therefore invalid.

“The Biden Administration’s behavior, if left unchecked, makes a mockery of our system of justice and our Constitution,” the filing states.

Moody contended that an expected crush of migrants after the end of Title 42 will inevitably overrun border officials and trigger a mass influx of illegal immigrants into American cities.

The Department of Homeland Security told Fox News last month that border officials “may consider releasing certain migrants who have undergone strict national security and public safety vetting to continue their immigration processes.”

The policy “may include processing migrants for parole to reduce the amount of time they spend in custody.” 

Migrants have been massing at the border in anticipation of the end of Title 42, which allowed for the rapid expulsion of undocumented migrants amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Moody told Fox that the Florida suit hopes to “force this administration to follow the law, secure the border and protect the American people.”

While far removed from the southern border, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has argued that lax immigration policies facilitate the flow of fentanyl across the entire nation — including the Sunshine State.

Moody’s filing notes that more than 100,000 illegal immigrants have entered Florida .

“Florida will continue to expend funds on illegal aliens present in the State in the form of public education, incarceration costs for aliens who commit crimes, unemployment benefits, and emergency Medicaid,” the filing states. “Those costs will increase as a result of the new parole policy.”

DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has warned of mounting immigration challenges in light of Title 42’s end.

“Even after nearly two years of preparation, we expect to see large numbers of encounters at our southern border in the days and weeks after May 11th,” he said. “We are already seeing high numbers of encounters in certain sectors. This places an incredible strain on our personnel, our facilities and our communities with whom we partner closely.” 

Agents have already been instructed to release migrants from border areas that have hit 125% capacity, according to NBC.

Those border crossers are being told to report to an immigration office within 60 days, but there is no way to track their whereabouts, a DHS official told the network.