{"id":264422,"date":"2023-02-01T13:56:01","date_gmt":"2023-02-01T18:56:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/?p=264422"},"modified":"2023-02-01T13:56:01","modified_gmt":"2023-02-01T18:56:01","slug":"challenging-the-new-federal-parole-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/world\/usa\/challenging-the-new-federal-parole-program\/","title":{"rendered":"Challenging the new federal parole program"},"content":{"rendered":"

In February 2021, America First Legal emerged, a conservative think tank aimed, among other things, at helping\/organizing Republican attorneys general in their confrontation with the Democratic executive branch. Its president, Stephen Miller, is one of those hawks known for his hardline policies on immigration and for his calls for culture war according to the terms used, denouncing in any case radicalism where there is only barely liberalism.<\/span><\/p>\n

During his tenure as an adviser to Trump (2017-2021), Miller gained notoriety for clashing with other administration officials over the shocking and restrictive immigration policies he presented to the president, including one that at the time caused quite a bit of environmental noise: the U.S. travel ban for Muslims (the so-called <\/span>Muslim ban<\/i><\/b><\/a>, hatched with Steve Bannon) amid his efforts to speed up rule changes or bypass established bureaucratic processes. He was also one of the main architects and defenders of the forced family separations that the Trump administration implemented on the southern border.<\/span><\/p>\n

He was also the author of the initial idea of using the public health authority of the Federal Government as a means to achieve an objective long pursued by the Trumpists: closing the southern border to asylum seekers, in violation of U.S. and international laws. Following that move, authorities were able to summarily expel the migrants without giving them the opportunity to seek protection. On March 20, 2020, under pressure from the White House, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a mass expulsion order for immigrants under a statutory provision since then called Title 42.<\/span><\/p>\n

That policy, dubbed the \u201cStephen Miller special\u201d by a former Trump administration official, was criticized from the very beginning by epidemiologists and public health specialists. But with the change in administration, a group of experts asked President Biden to end \u201ca scientifically unfounded policy\u201d that they said was not helping prevent the spread of COVID-19 and was making things worse. But it is still valid after a zigzagging judicial process. And it is being used by the Biden administration until the contrary is legally determined.<\/span><\/p>\n

The truth is that under Miller\u2019s leadership the organization came to join a system of legal entities with a conservative tendency in the manner of <\/span>Judicial Watch and<\/b><\/a>\u00a0<\/span>Alliance Defending Freedom<\/b><\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/span>Immigration Reform Law Institute<\/b><\/a>. But unlike these, America First Legal has a declared practicality: it focuses on administrative law and the so-called \u201cexecutive overreach,\u201d a politically motivated doctrine criticized by constitutional experts for ignoring the separation of powers.<\/span><\/p>\n

In other words, Miller and his \u201cteam\u201d set out to build an institution that would serve as legal support and function like the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), but the other way around, to make life miserable for the Biden administration and its policies, especially (but not only) in the area of immigration. As Miller himself writes on his website:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAmerica First Legal is the long-awaited answer to the ACLU. We are committed to an unwavering defense of true equality under law, national borders and sovereignty, freedom of speech and religion, classical values and virtues, the sanctity of life and centrality of family, and our timeless legal and constitutional heritage. Through relentless litigation and oversight we will protect America First, <\/span>Last, and Always.<\/b><\/a>\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Gene Hamilton and Stephen Miller, the executives of America First Legal.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A summary review of its staff shows, in effect, that some names of the cream of U.S. conservatism have been able to gather there by receiving the support of entities such as the Institute of Conservative Association of former Senator <\/span>Jim DeMint<\/b><\/a> and individuals such as the prosecutor of the impeachment process for President Bill Clinton, Ken Starr (1946-2022), who would be part of the first team to defend the political trial against Donald Trump.<\/span><\/p>\n

Also joining the effort were <\/span>Gene Hamilton<\/b><\/a>, a former Justice Department lawyer who serves as the entity\u2019s vice president and general counsel, and former Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows.<\/span><\/p>\n

II<\/b><\/p>\n

Less than 100 days into its inception, the Biden administration was faced with lawsuits presented by Republican state attorneys general. Let\u2019s say that as early as January 2021 Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued the new administration trying to prevent a 100-day moratorium on the expulsion of some undocumented immigrants and alleging that the presidential executive order violated both the Constitution and an agreement between Texas and the Department of Homeland Security.<\/span><\/p>\n