Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit on Friday to
prevent President Joe Biden from suspending deportations
of immigrants for 100 days, one of the first measures the new Administration had established.
Paxton filed a complaint and a temporary restraining motion in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, calling for an immediate stop to Biden's move claiming that it goes against the Constitution, immigration laws and a Agreement between the State of Texas and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
The federal prosecutor assures in his presentation that the president's order
"will directly and immediately endanger"
the citizens of Texas and the security forces.
Paxton, a Republican who has spearheaded legal measures against more progressive policies on immigration and others in the past, had sent a letter to Acting Homeland Security Secretary David Pekoske on Thursday calling for the measure to be reversed.
On Wednesday, hours after Biden was sworn in, Pekoske published a memorandum stating the suspension of deportations of "certain immigrants" for a period of 100 days beginning this Friday.
The lawyer Alma Rosa Nieto explained to Noticias Telemundo that the measure orders a halt to the detention and deportation of people who arrived in the country before November 2020 and
do not represent "a threat to public safety"
or have committed "serious crimes."
Migrants are returned to Mexico from Texas in the summer of 2019. AP / AP
The Texas attorney general's lawsuit is the first public action by the Republican side against the measure.
Paxton argues that it "causes serious and irreparable harm to Texas and its citizens."
[All of Biden's plans to reverse Trump's immigration policies]
"We will
file a lawsuit quickly if they do not back down,
" the prosecutor had assured on Friday morning in an interview on Fox News.
Until then, he said, he had not received a response from the federal government.
Based on a Trump-era deal
The Texas prosecutor argued in his letter to DHS that if the memorandum were confirmed and not legally challenged, it would "allow the Biden Administration to grant a blanket amnesty to the vast majority of illegal aliens in this country at one stroke and without the approval of Congress ”.
Paxton referred to an agreement signed between the Department of Homeland Security and Texas that, according to his version, the federal government would have violated by not notifying him before suspending the deportations.
In the same text, he
also threatened to wage a battle in the courts
if he does not "immediately annul" the memorandum on Wednesday.
What is the impact of ceasing deportations for 100 days?
An expert answers it
Jan. 21, 202102: 40
Noticias Telemundo has sent DHS a request for comment on the content of this letter.
The department has referred the query to the White House, from which a response is expected.
When the partial suspension of deportations was announced,
federal authorities said
the measure will give them time
to ensure that there is a "fair and effective immigration enforcement system," while reviewing the practices and implementation of policies in the agency, as read in the document.
The Texas attorney general has not released the agreement to which he refers.
Noticias Telemundo requested the text from Paxton's office and is awaiting a response.
The Trump Administration signed several agreements with states and local authorities in the last weeks of his term that may create obstacles for Biden to implement his immigration policies, our sister network NBC News reported.
Officials who confirmed to NBC News the existence of these agreements made no specific reference to one that may have been signed with Texas.
One of them defined these legal pacts as an attempt to "sabotage" the plans of the new Executive, since they oblige the federal government to inform states and cities about their immigration measures and take their response into consideration, which may extend the entry into force of these for up to half a year, or take your block in court.
Paxton himself had already announced on Wednesday, in a message on Twitter with which he congratulated Biden on being the new president, that he would take legal action against any "unconstitutional and illegal act committed by the new Administration."
The chairman of the Texas Democratic Party, Gilberto Hinojosa, in a statement to local media SAcurrent.com dismissed Paxton's announcement of possibly pursuing legal proceedings on the deportation issue as
"political theater
.
"
With information from SACurrent.com and Fox News.