18 Republican attorneys general have joined the lawsuit seeking to prevent the Biden Administration from lifting the Trump-era Title 42 health policy at the border.
The suit was first filed by the Republican attorneys general of Arizona, Louisiana and Missouri earlier this month.
It charges that the administration’s “disastrous border policies” would lead to “unmitigated chaos and catastrophe” if Title 42 is removed.
The attorneys general of the following states joined the suit this week: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, West Virginia and Wyoming.
According to the states, lifting Title 42 is illegal because it violates the “notice-and-comments requirements” that are a part of the federal Administrative Procedure Act.
Wyoming Republican Gov. Mike Gordon said the Biden administration has failed to “fulfill its Constitutional duty” in securing the border.
“When the federal government does not fulfill its responsibilities, states are compelled to take legal action to protect their residents from the impacts of this border crisis,” he said in his statement.
Republican Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy showed his support Thursday, saying “The Termination Order is detrimental to the states tasked with enforcing immigration standards, and it is not logically appropriate”.
“This policy runs contrary to the Biden Administration’s other declarations because it is expressly premised on the decrease of COVID-19, but the Administration has ignored these facts by enforcing mandatory vaccination and mask mandates,” Dunleavy added.
The order has been in place since March of 2020 and has allowed for the expulsion of more than 1.7 million migrants.