Although the state of Missouri is not overwhelmed with midnight deliveries of immigrants from Texas or Florida, Attorney General Andrew Bailey joined a coalition of 23 states in supporting Florida v. Mayorkas by filing an amicus brief in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida.
“Missouri seems to be pretty quiet when it comes to migrants and immigrants,” said St. Louis University professor Jerome Katz. “We’re not getting flooded. That's very much a political play.”
The lawsuit, filed by Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody on the eve of the expiration of Title 42, challenges the fact that the DHS Parole + Alternatives to Detention Policy instructs agents how to exercise discretionary authority and sets criteria by which aliens are eligible or ineligible for parole without notice and commentary.
Because it is an agency rule, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is required to comply with the notice and commentary process outlined in the Administrative Procedures Act (APA).
However, Katz argues Missouri is typically not a first-choice destination among migrants.
“Most people don't even know where Missouri is unless they have family here,” he said.
The amicus brief Bailey signed on May 24 argues that the challenged policy exacerbates the ongoing alleged uncontrolled influx of aliens into amici states and that more than 1 million illegal immigrants released into the interior by the Administration are causing immense strain to the states’ public infrastructures by hampering their ability to provide vital services to their citizens and throwing their labor markets into chaos.
“The Amici States submit this brief to illuminate the serious equitable concerns that weigh against granting the Secretary’s motion,” the pleading states. “The Administration has willfully violated Congress’s directive that aliens arriving at the border “shall be detained” while their applications for admission are processed.”
Amici states other than Missouri that signed the brief include Alabama, Alaska, Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Dakota, Ohio, Montana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, West Virginia, and Wyoming.
“We have blue states that are very entrenched blue and we have red states that are very entrenched red and in this sort of judicial activism, it’s the same cast of states that are very red, very Republican that jump in and the same thing happens with the democratic side of issues,” said Thomas Kennedy, spokesperson for the Florida Immigrant Coalition (FIC). “It’s another side of the coin depending on your perspective. It’s a very toxic dynamic at the end of the day.”
On June 21, U.S. District Judge Kent Wetherell issued an order authorizing the parties to begin discovery on the issue of standing.
In a separate but similar case filed by Moody in 2021, a federal appellate court upheld the denial of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)'s request for a stay that would have allowed the federal government to release some parole migrants into the U.S. without much supervision.
The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel of appellate judges in Atlanta argued that the federal government failed to make its case, citing a time-lapse in appealing a previous court opinion and less fallout at the border than was originally anticipated.