Florida, other states sue over immigration enforcement
A law enforcement officer walks past ICE logo at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement headquarters in Washington, DC. (Photo by Salwan Georges/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Florida, Alabama and Georgia filed a federal lawsuit Monday alleging that the Biden administration is not properly deporting undocumented immigrants who commit crimes.
Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall and Georgia Attorney General Christopher Carr filed the 24-page lawsuit in the federal Northern District of Alabama. It alleges that the Biden administration has violated a law known as the Administrative Procedure Act by not properly deporting criminals.
"It [the Biden administration] claims the discretion to decide for itself which aliens should be arrested, detained and removed, even if its policy preferences directly conflict with the clear commands of Congress," the lawsuit said. "And it has used that claimed discretion to allow illegal immigrants guilty of drug trafficking, burglary and other serious crimes to return to our communities upon release from state custody rather than arresting and removing them as federal law requires."
Moody also has filed other lawsuits about Biden administration immigration policies, including a case that is pending in federal court in Pensacola. In December, Moody’s office dropped an appeal in another case, saying it was moot because of changes in policies.
RELATED: DeSantis blames Biden administration's border policies following murder of Daytona Beach couple
Gov. Ron DeSantis last week blamed President Joe Biden's immigration policies for the brutal stabbing death of a Daytona Beach couple.
Jean R. Macean, a citizen of Haiti, faces two first-degree murder counts for the killings of Terry Aultman, 48, and Brenda Aultman, 55. Investigators say the Aultmans were riding their bikes home from Bike Week earlier this month when Macean picked them at random and stabbed them to death.
In a news release from the governor's office, DeSantis highlighted that Macean was previously arrested in Orange County in 2019 on multiple drug-related charges that were eventually dropped by then-State Attorney for the Ninth Judicial Circuit, Aramis Ayala.
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