On June 22, Reed O’Connor, a federal judge in Texas, blocked a Biden administration immigration rule on the same day the Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton separately sued the U.S. Department of Justice to end the rule.
The rule was adopted in 2024 and allowed immigration judges to indefinitely close a deportation case after hearing arguments from the federal government and the immigrant in deportation proceedings, especially if the person could qualify for a benefit that would allow them to stay in the country legally.
Paxton filed his lawsuit in the Northern District of Texas in Wichita Falls, along with America First Legal Foundation, an organization founded by Stephen Miller, a senior adviser to President Trump.
The foundation focuses on ways to limit both legal and illegal immigration to the country and has previously filed lawsuits alongside Paxton against the Biden administration’s immigration policies.
In the latest lawsuit, Paxton’s office declared the Biden-era rule as “effectively granting indefinite amnesty to aliens illegally present in the country.”
O’Connor ruled in favor of Texas after the Department of Justice filed a response saying it agreed with Paxton’s office.
Critics feel the fastpaced end to the rule “echoes a similar maneuver conducted by the DOJ and Paxton’s office last year, when the federal agency sued Texas over a law allowing undocumented students to qualify for lower tuition rates at public universities.”
In both instances, shortly after the suit was filed, Texas asked Judge O’Connor to find the law unconstitutional, which he quickly did, putting a swift end to both rules.
Legal experts have commented that a state working with the federal government so closely to overturn state laws is unorthodox and raises questions of collusion.