WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, America First Legal (AFL) announced that the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas denied the Biden Administration’s attempt to stop a critical lawsuit filed against a key open-borders regulation, one that served as a model for portions of the recent legislation introduced in the Senate. With this hurdle being cleared, the lawsuit filed by the State of Texas and AFL can now move forward toward achieving justice for Texas and the American people.
The Biden Administration’s “Asylum Officer Rule” transfers authority given by Congress away from immigration judges to asylum officers. This rule violates both the statutory system Congress established as well as the Appointments Clause of the Constitution. The federal government moved to dismiss the suit by claiming that Texas did not have standing to sue. The court rejected the Administration’s claims and allowed Texas’s lawsuit to continue, a significant development that provides a precedent for other courts to find that Texas has standing to challenge the Biden Administration’s unlawful immigration policies.
This case also offers a rare opportunity to litigate the application of the Appointments Clause of the Constitution, which states that Congress may only vest the power to appoint “inferior Officers . . . in the President alone, the Courts of Law, or the Heads of Departments.” By attempting to use asylum officers to do the job Congress delegated to immigration judges, the Biden Administration is once again attempting to exceed the boundaries placed by the Constitution to advance its open borders policy.
Statement from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton:
“It is tremendously important for Texas and for our Constitutional order that this case is allowed to move forward. The Biden Administration must not be permitted to ignore Congress and violate the Constitution. We take every opportunity to hold Biden accountable for his unlawful overreach.”
Statement from America First Legal President Stephen Miller:
“This is an important victory in our fight to end Joe Biden’s radical plan to convert the border into a citizenship manufacturing facility. We will not relent in this fight. It is our honor to work with Attorney General Paxton and to represent the great State of Texas in the legal battle against Joe Biden’s invasion,” said Stephen Miller.
Read the order here.
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