(The Center Square) – Twenty Republican state attorneys general are expressing support for President-elect Donald Trump’s immigration policies.
The coalition, led by Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach, issued a joint statement expressing their eagerness to work with Trump to “restore the rule of law by securing the border and ending the disastrous Biden administration policies that caused a historic surge of illegal immigration into our country.”
They cite dozens of executive actions taken by President Joe Biden and his administration “that weakened border controls and sanctioned illegal immigration from around the world … and violated the law.” They fought back by suing the administration and winning nearly all of their lawsuits, they said.
The most recent lawsuit Kansas won was to stop the administration from providing free health care “to illegal aliens in the DACA program,” The Center Square reported. It was the fourth time a federal judge recently ruled against the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA) that former President Barack Obama created through executive order in 2012.
Federal judges more than once have ruled DACA is illegal in court battles that have gone on for more than a decade. DACA was created to prevent from deportation some foreign national children who were brought into the country illegally. Within the first five years of the program, nearly 80,000 DACA recipients were released into the U.S. with arrest records, The Center Square reported.
“Illegal aliens shouldn’t get a free pass into our country. They shouldn’t receive taxpayer benefits when they arrive,” Kobach argued.
To the dismay and surprise of many Trump supporters, Trump appears to have flipped on his position on DACA after previously opposing it. In an interview with NBC News, he said, “Republicans are very open to the dreamers,” referring to DACA recipients. Republicans have overwhelming opposed DACA, including Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who filed lawsuits to end the program.
The coalition remains optimistic about Trump’s position on DACA, saying, “As he promised to do at the end of his first term, we trust that President Trump will fully rescind the unlawful DACA programs.”
They also said they “look forward to returning to the successful America First policies that protected our country during the first Trump Administration,” including reinstating the “Remain in Mexico” policy, which Congress authorized nearly 30 years ago through the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996. The law was created to “prevent the very catastrophe we are currently witnessing at our southern border – perpetual waves of illegal aliens overwhelming our immigration system and threatening our national security,” they said.
The AGs also support Trump’s plan to close the border, finish building the border wall, end the abuse of immigration parole and “issue an urgently needed executive order to stop federal agencies from granting birthright citizenship.”
Joining Kobach are the attorneys general of the states of Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, West Virginia and Tennessee.
Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody filed multiple lawsuits against the Biden administration, including attempting to stop the administration from releasing criminal illegal foreign nationals from prisons into U.S. communities, from releasing people on the terrorist watchlist into the U.S., ending the administration’s catch and release program, ending and holding accountable those responsible for the alleged abuse of unaccompanied children, and ending multiple parole programs she and other AGs argue are illegal.
Moody joined Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares’ coalition of 21 AGs calling on Biden to designate Mexican drug cartels as Foreign Terrorist Organizations. She also led a coalition of 18 AGs calling on Biden to designate fentanyl as a weapon of mass destruction. They never received a response.
“Republican attorneys general will support President Trump as he restores the rule of law to our immigration system,” the coalition said. “We will work with President Trump to secure the border, end failed Biden Administration immigration policies, and effect the largest deportation in U.S. history. We will stand with President Trump as he makes America safe again.”