With Democrats in control of the White House and Congress, and the next federal election a year-and-a-half away, Republicans are taking their fight against the Biden border crisis to the courtroom. Texas is one of several GOP-led states suing the federal government over immigration policy. "What these lawsuits are seeking are nationwide injunctions against the Biden administration, to stop these practices of undefended, unenforced borders," says Mark H. Metcalf, former federal immigration judge.
Texas has three separate lawsuits against the Biden administration: one challenges the moratorium on deportations, another seeks to reinstate migrant protection protocols, and another challenges border policy on public health grounds.
Metcalf believes most of the lawsuits from Texas and other red states are on solid legal footing. "These states are simply asking federal courts to enforce federal immigration code," he says. "In other words, they're not inventing law, they're asking the court to enforce present law, which has been enforced historically."
To succeed in court, the states must demonstrate how they are directly harmed by the failure to enforce immigration law. "In the past, states have been able to show the economic impact, the safety element--police, fire, emergency services--and the impact on schools," says Metcalf.
"Essentially, these states are arguing that you are creating an unfunded mandate by the federal government, imposed upon states and localities, to support a massive welfare state for these migrants."
Metcalf believes the issue will ultimately end up before the U.S. Supreme Court. "I'm hopeful that we're going to get some good Supreme Court rulings that dignify our borders, and that dignify the immigration process," he tells KTRH.