The state of Texas and a group led by former Trump administration advisor Stephen Miller are taking legal action against President Joe Biden for allowing COVID-19-infected illegal aliens to enter the United States.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Miller's organization America First Legal filed an injunction on June 23 in a federal court in Fort Worth. The injunction seeks to end the suspension of the Trump-era policy of sending illegal immigrants back to their country of origin amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Biden suspended the policy by ending a provision called Title 42, which blocks illegal aliens who pose a health threat from entering the U.S. With the absence of this provision, unaccompanied children and families who were caught illicitly crossing the border amid the pandemic were released and allowed to stay in the country while they ostensibly awaited immigration court dates.
In the lawsuit, the plaintiffs claim that the policy violates federal health guidelines and facilitates the entry of illegal aliens who were exposed to an unsafe environment while crossing the U.S. border.
"In other words, at the same time the Administration is urging Americans to get vaccinated, they are resettling thousands of unvaccinated illegal aliens into their cities, towns, and schools – and placing the cost and burden of all healthcare services for these new arrivals in the taxpayer tab," Miller said in a statement. (Related: Tucker Carlson slams Biden for releasing refugees untested for the Wuhan coronavirus.)
Biden undoes Trump's border control measures
Since taking office last January, Biden had issued a number of immigration-related executive orders that revoked policies that former President Donald Trump put in place during his time at the White House.
These include the construction of the U.S.-Mexico border wall, the "remain in Mexico" policy and the policy that required immigrants to get visas unless they could prove they could get health insurance or pay for health care.
Biden and other White House officials explained that the administration's actions were made to promote a humanitarian agenda along the border. They also claimed that Trump-era policies were ineffective and divisive, something that Trump categorically denied in a number of statements after leaving office.
Biden's immigration policy fuels border control crisis in Texas
Early in June, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott slammed Biden for facilitating the illegal entry of drugs and gang members into the state through his immigration policies.
"President Biden's open-border policies have paved the way for dangerous gangs and cartels, human traffickers and deadly drugs like fentanyl to pour into our communities," Abbott said in a statement. "Meanwhile, landowners along the border are seeing their property damaged and vandalized on a daily basis while the Biden Administration does nothing to protect them."
The governor made these comments after issuing a disaster declaration for 34 counties along or near the border the state shares with Mexico.
In the declaration, he noted that the Texas Department of Public Safety had made more than 1,300 criminal arrests, apprehended over 35,000 illegal immigrants and seized more than 10,000 pounds of drugs and over 100 firearms since March 6. Troopers had also intercepted 21.5 million lethal doses of fentanyl over the same time period. Fentanyl is a powerful synthetic pain reliever that is also often used as a recreational drug.
Data from the Customs and Border Protection also showed that more than 180,000 illegal immigrants were arrested in May of this year alone. Critics and former government officials pointed out that this figure represented the highest number of arrests in decades.
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