The Democrats have tasted their own medicine in recent months, as several state attorney generals filed an array of lawsuits against Joe Biden's administration over its executive orders related to immigration policies. The tactic, previously employed by Democrat attorney generals in several states at the beginning of Trump's presidency, has already yielded its first results – a suit, filed by Texas AG Ken Paxton, resulted in a temporary suspension of Biden's order that had banned the deportation of illegal migrants for 100 days.
The Democrat president argued the ban was needed to conduct a review of the country's immigration policy, but a federal judge ruled to suspend it nonetheless after the Texas AG argued the executive order might cause "immediate and irreparable harm" to the state.
Texas' lawsuit is not the only legal challenge that Biden's immigration policy faces at the moment. Florida's AG, Ashley Moody, also filed a lawsuit against Biden's executive orders, calling them a risk to "Floridians' public safety".
The Arizona AG along with dozens of GOP counterparts from other states are also mounting a legal attack on another executive order by Biden, which effectively eliminated the "public charge" rule introduced under President Donald Trump. They insist that the rule, which requires green card applicants to not be dependent financially on the government's welfare programmes, would save over $1 billion of taxpayers' money if it remains in place.
"I think the one thing that is becoming crystal clear with the Biden administration is that they are going all in on 'open borders'. It is troublesome. And I think that in the long run this is gonna hurt America", Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich said.
The Republican AGs are now waging a legal battle with Biden's decision in several federal appeals courts in a bid to deliver the issue at hand to the US Supreme Court, currently dominated by judges appointed by Republican presidents.
Roots of Immigration Policy Standoff and Its Prospects
The flip-flop nature of the US immigration policy in the last decade stems from the inability of the two main political forces, the GOP and the Democrats, to find common ground in this sphere. The two parties have so far failed to reach a compromise and pass a comprehensive reform of the immigration laws.
Instead, incoming presidents have changed immigration policy on a whim using the prerogative of executive orders. This was the way Donald Trump fulfilled most of his electoral promises in the sphere of immigration. His first orders, including travel bans, faced opposition in numerous states dominated by the Democrats. The state AGs fought Trump's bans and tough immigration policies in courts, but with little success. Legal analysts, cited by The Hill media outlet, claim that it is a common legal practice for the US courts to uphold immigration-related orders of the US presidents, considering it their exclusive purview.
This practice apparently helped Trump keep most of his immigration policies in place throughout his term. However, the very same practice might thwart the attempts of the Republican AGs to contest Biden's executive orders, which had overturned or repealed many of Trump's immigration initiatives, such as the border wall. Following the introduction of the new policies under Biden, the US southern border saw a major influx of immigrants, which reportedly overwhelmed the US Customs and Border Protection capabilities and stretched thin US Border Patrol forces. Despite that, Biden's administration has so far refused to call the situation a "border crisis", while admitting that the border situation is challenging.
