Trump-Appointed Judge Sides With Florida In Border Suit

A federal judge has ruled that Joe Biden’s “catch-and-release” border policies are “unlawful,” One America News reports, siding with Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody, who filed a lawsuit in 2021.

In his ruling Wednesday, District Judge T. Kent Wetherell nullified Biden’s use of mass parole to facilitate migrant releases at the border and slammed the administration, saying the federal government has “turned the Southwest Border into a meaningless line in the sand.”

In the scathing, 109-page ruling, Wetherell likened the federal government’s current border approach to “a child who kills his parents and then seeks pity for being an orphan.”

“For the most part, the court finds in favor of Florida because, as detailed below, the evidence establishes that defendants have effectively turned the Southwest border into a meaningless line in the sand and little more than a speed bump for aliens flooding into the country by prioritizing ‘alternatives to detention,’” Wetherell wrote.

Wetherell was appointed to the federal bench by former President Donald Trump.

According to OAN, more than 4 million migrant encounters occurred in 2021 and 2022 under the Biden administration’s border policies. The administration has replaced Trump-era policies, such as holding migrants for immigration hearings under Migrant Protection Protocols, with catch-and-release tactics.

Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody, who was the first state official to challenge the administration’s policy, officially known as Parole Plus Alternative to Detention, celebrated the ruling.

“Today’s ruling affirms what we have known all along, President Biden is responsible for the border crisis and his unlawful immigration policies make this country less safe,” Moody wrote in a prepared statement according to WINK News.

“A federal judge is now ordering Biden to follow the law, and his administration should immediately begin securing the border to protect the American people.”

Governor Ron DeSantis, who backed Moody’s lawsuit and has leaned into the border security issue, also applauded the ruling.

“The federal court invalidating Biden’s “catch and release” policy is another example of Florida holding this administration accountable,” DeSantis wrote on Twitter.

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