Biden’s Plan for a Deportation Moratorium Hits a Texas Roadblock
A court decision in Texas shows that reversing the Trump administration’s policies on undocumented immigrants won’t be as simple as signing an executive order.
Undocumented immigrants leave a U.S. federal court in McAllen, Texas, in 2018. President Joe Biden is now trying to put a moratorium on deportations.
Photographer: John Moore/Getty Images
On day one, U.S. President Joe Biden rolled back a handful of Trump-era measures targeting undocumented immigrants. But less than a week later, a lawsuit brought by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has temporarily hamstrung a key piece of the new administration’s immigration agenda: its 100-day moratorium on deportations.
On Tuesday, Drew Tipton, a judge appointed by former president Donald Trump, granted a request by Texas to halt Biden’s moratorium for at least 14 days, eliciting cheers from Paxton and strong rebuke from immigration and civil rights advocates.