Justice Department Sues Texas Over Abbott's Attempts to Get Control of Border Surge

The U.S. Department of Justice is suing the state of Texas for policies initiated by Governor Greg Abbott that seek to reestablish state control of the southern border.

Amazingly, DoJ is suing Texas for many of the same reasons that Texas instituted the policies in the first place.

Essentially, Abbott’s executive order directs Texas’ Department of Public Safety to stop vehicles that, under “reasonable suspicion,” appear to be carrying illegal aliens who have been released from custody after illegally crossing the border. And since many of the vehicles carrying the suspected illegal aliens are private, Abbott has ordered those vehicles impounded.

Biden’s catch and release program has released thousands of illegal aliens into Texas with an unknown number infected with the coronavirus. The number of positive COVID tests are spiking in some border communities as the government isn’t testing everyone who is released from custody.

CNN:

In a lawsuit filed Friday, the Justice Department alleged the order — in which Abbott directed state troopers to stop vehicles suspected of carrying recently released migrants — violates the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause, which establishes that federal laws preempt state laws and regulations. The lawsuit alleged that the Abbott’s order jeopardizes the “safety of noncitizens in federal custody, risking the safety of federal law enforcement personnel and their families, and exacerbating the spread of COVID-19 in our communities.”

How in God’s name does Abbott’s order “jeopardize” the “safety of noncitizens in federal custody”? The feds have them in custody. Is someone going to sneak into the holding facility and start murdering illegals?

Abbott’s order is aimed at the private organizations that are helping the government dispose of their illegal alien problem by whisking them away from the border. Up to 50,000 illegals aren’t even given a court date to appear in order to plead their case. Once they’re free of the border, they disappear into the illegal alien netherworld.

Abbott is trying to discourage the participation of private groups and individuals in a practice he believes threatens the health and safety of Texas residents.

In its court filings Friday, the Biden administration said that Abbott’s order would have “tremendous consequences” and could be “expected to cause confrontations between DPS and federal personnel, contractors, and partners moving noncitizens, an important immigration function.”

The Department had warned Abbott about the threat of a lawsuit in a letter sent by Attorney General Merrick Garland on Thursday. Abbott shot back on Friday, soon after the lawsuit was announced, with a letter of his own accusing the Biden administration of seeking “to fabricate its own immigration laws.”

Texas Rangers are going to start a shoot-out with border patrol agents? C’mon, man!

Invoking the supremacy clause almost always wins the argument for the government. But Abbott’s powers in a health emergency are broad. He has a real chance to win in federal court.