Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody asked a federal judge on Thursday to rule on whether Homeland Security is violating the court’s orders by using “parole” powers to catch and release migrants in the new border surge.
U.S. District Judge Kent T. Wetherell gave the administration until 5 p.m. to respond.
Judge Wetherell had ruled earlier this year that Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas’s view of his parole powers stretched well beyond the law. In an order Thursday, the judge said the new policy announced this week by the Border Patrol to revive parole “appears to be strikingly similar” to the plan he already shot down.
If he rules in favor of Ms. Moody, it could severely hamper the administration’s plans to try to speedily catch and release some of the wave of migrants now rushing the U.S.-Mexico boundary.
Homeland Security had begged to have until Friday to respond to Ms. Moody’s legal challenge. That would have been after the end of Title 42, the border pandemic expulsion authority that has helped keep a lid on the chaos.
Judge Wetherell chided the administration for its request, saying it was “inconceivable” that the government only came up with the policy this week “since they have known for some time that the Title 42 Order was going to expire.”
SEE ALSO: 60 days to check in: Memo reveals Border Patrol’s new catch-and-release policy
Ms. Moody said the Biden administration showed “gall” to try to revive a policy the judge had already ruled against.
Parole is a special permission for a migrant to enter the U.S. even though he or she doesn’t hold a valid visa or another entry permit.
Under the law, parole is to be used on a case-by-case basis, and only in instances where there is an urgent humanitarian need or a significant public benefit. Analysts say that was meant for cases such as life-saving medical treatments or when a foreigner was needed in the U.S. to help with an investigation or court prosecution.
The administration has paroled 1.5 million migrants since Oct. 1, 2021.
Judge Wetherell, in his previous ruling, said that didn’t smack of case-by-case determinations.
He also ruled that Homeland Security was evaluating the humanitarian and public benefit arguments from the standpoint of its operations. The judge said the law, however, called for viewing those tests from the standpoint of the migrant.
The new parole policy released this week by Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz seems to breach that part of the judge’s ruling by casting parole as necessary to maintain Border Patrol operations.
“As short-term holding conditions become more crowded, USBP faces increasing challenges regarding maintenance of sanitation, medical needs and mental health of noncitizens, among other short-term custody standard considerations,” the chief wrote.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.