6,400 Illegal Immigrants Released Without Court Dates Before Biden Admin Parole Policy Blocked

Migrants cross the Tijuana River toward the U.S. border in Tijuana, Mex., on May 11, 2023. John Fredricks/The Epoch Times

Over 6,000 illegal immigrants were released into the United States without receiving an alien registration number or a court date under the Biden administration’s new parole policy, according to court documents filed on Monday.

The 6,413 releases took place on May 11, prior to the temporary restraining order (TRO) taking effect, according to the court response (pdf) citing data from Customs and Border Protection (CBP) systems.

A federal judge in Florida last week blocked the Biden administration from implementing the parole policy that would have replaced Title 42, the measure that allowed for the immediate expulsion of illegal border crossers to Mexico during the COVID-19 pandemic.

David BeMiller, Chief of Law Enforcement Operations at CBP, told the judge he was aware that the court’s restraining order comes into place from 11:59 p.m. on May 11, Thursday. The Border Patrol issued a notice to require the agents to cease processing for “parole with conditions” of all individuals at 11:45 p.m. ET, he added.

But he quoted CBP data showing 2,576 noncitizens in its custody were fully processed before 11:59 p.m. last Thursday.

“When the court issued its TRO, all sectors had ceased releases for the day for any noncitizens who were fully processed,” BeMiller told the judge in a sworn declaration. Consequently, his agency “released on May 12, 2023 these noncitizens who had already been fully processed prior to the time the TRO took effect.”

Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody speaks during a press conference at the Broward County Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., on Aug. 18, 2022. Joe Raedle/Getty Images

These documents were a response to the legal challenge filed by Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody against the parole program.

Moody argued the new parole plan is “materially identical” to a similar program, known as Parole plus Alternative to Detention (Parole + ATD), which was struck down by a Florida court in March.

Judge T. Kent Wetherell II agreed, writing in his ruling the policy was “materially indistinguishable” from Parole + ATD, “both in its purpose” to reduce overcrowding at detention facilities and “manner of operation.”

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Wetherell imposed a two-week restraining order on the parole plan on May 11, just hours before Title 42 was set to expire and as thousands of migrants wait on the Mexico side of the border.

The administration requested a stay of both orders. But Moody objected to the motion saying that the Biden administration is trying to continue the “unlawful policy,” which she argued in a court filing they allegedly did “apparently counting on the fact that no one would catch wind of what it was up to.”

A Department of Homeland Security memo outlining the parole program stated migrants can be released on parole for “urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit.”

The program allows the U.S. authorities to release illegal immigrants without a court order. Instead, the program requires paroled migrants to schedule an appointment to appear at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility online within 60 days.

Migrants wait in line to enter the United States from Tijuana, Mexico, on May 11, 2023. John Fredricks/The Epoch Times

BeMiller told the judge in the court document that the instructions “generally were followed.”

However, an initial review of the CBP data indicates “possible noncompliance with respect to a relatively small number of individuals,” a lawyer for the government said in a separate court document filed on Monday. About 167 individuals had time of process completions not prior to the deadline, including 130 without a processing date listed, according to the documents.

“We are actively reviewing the data to seek to determine whether the individuals were in fact processed after 11:59 p.m. on May 11 and if so how that occurred contrary to the instructions to the field and the Court’s order,” he added.

Caden Pearson contributed to this report.