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SALT LAKE CITY — Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes joined a coalition of 23 states Thursday in filing an amicus brief in a Florida lawsuit seeking to overturn the Biden administration's immigration policy.
The lawsuit takes issue with a policy that allows migrants to be quickly released with instructions to report to immigration officials at a later date. A federal judge ruled Wednesday in favor of Florida, but Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz have appealed the case.
"Rather than detaining illegal immigrants as the law requires, the Biden administration has released those cited at the border into the United States," Reyes' office said in a statement. "This policy flagrantly violates federal immigration law and encourages immigrants to try and cross the border illegally, hoping to be released into the interior."
The lawsuit and amicus brief come amid reports that the Biden administration is considering reopening a number of previously closer migrant detention centers, according to Politico.
Since taking office, Biden's administration had released over 1 million migrants encountered at the border into the U.S. and turned away migrants 1.7 million times, according to a September report from the New York Times.
The blistering brief says that states have experienced immense strain on public resources due to an influx in illegal immigration.
Utah Gov. Spencer Cox has repeatedly called for additional legal immigration and border security, which he said will help boost the state's economy.
The other states joining in on the brief were Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Virginia, West Virginia and Wyoming.
