Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall joined 14 other attorneys general Monday in filing a motion to intervene in a federal lawsuit to defend a Trump administration policy restricting illegal immigration. The attorneys general want the Donald Trump policy to continue to be enforced beyond a December 21, 2022, court-ordered termination date.
“At the start of the COVID pandemic, the Trump administration invoked Section 265 of Title 42 of U.S. health law to restrict illegal immigrants access to our country,” said AG Marshall. “Since Title 42 has been enforced, it has prevented over 1.7 million illegal entries into the U.S, significantly curbing illegal immigration and protecting the health of American citizens.”
“In April, after the Biden administration indicated it would no longer enforce the Title 42 policy, I joined with nearly two dozen other states in filing motions to keep the valuable policy in effect so that America’s borders are not further jeopardized,” Marshall explained. “While we were initially successful in winning a preliminary injunction in May, a federal court in Washington, D.C. ruled against the Title 42 policy in November. After the Biden administration asked for a temporary delay so that it could transition away from Title 42, the Court set the policy’s termination date for December 21, 2022.”
“Alabama and our partner states filed our motion with U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on November 21 to intervene in the federal lawsuit to defend the legal necessity of Title 42 to uphold America’s border security,” Marshall continued. “Sadly, just as the Biden administration has demonstrated little interest in defending our national borders, it has shown equally shallow motivation in standing in support of federal rules that would do the same. Our states have no choice but to take up this fight on behalf of America’s security.”
Attorney General Marshall was joined in filing the motion to intervene by attorneys general from Arizona, Alaska, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wyoming.
The conservative AGs contend that because invalidation of the Title 42 Orders will directly harm the States, they now seek to intervene to offer a defense of the Title 42 policy so that its validity can be resolved on the merits rather than through strategic surrender. They claim that is motion is plainly timely because it comes within a week of the Federal Defendants’ volte-face—which made plain that the States’ interests are no longer adequately represented by the Biden Administration.
Both the plaintiffs and defendants oppose this motion.
Steve Marshall was re-elected earlier this month.
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