DOJ says Biden administration will appeal judge's rulings on migrants

The Biden administration late Friday sought an emergency stay of two orders blocking its migrant parole policy even as it said it will appeal those rulings.

“The Solicitor General has authorized an appeal of both orders,” the Justice Department said in its filing in U.S. District Court in the Northern District of Florida.

The emergency stay request was in response to an order U.S. District Judge T. Kent Wetherell issued just hours before Title 42 expired Thursday night. That order, issued in a lawsuit by the state of Florida, blocked Biden's plan to give some asylum seekers paperwork that did not include an immigration court date.

Wetherell had also issued a ruling in March blocking administration policy that would have allowed releasing migrants with minimal supervision; the administration is appealing that decision as well.

The judge on Saturday dismissed the request for the stay on that one, calling it "borderline frivolous," but did not immediately rule on the request pertaining to Thursday's ruling.

President Joe Biden and his administration had been preparing for a substantial influx of arrivals ahead of the Covid-era Title 42 rules expiring last Thursday at midnight, crafting policies designed to manage the expected surge.

Wetherell’s Thursday ruling left everything in limbo, and the Biden administration’s appeal said harm would result if his orders were not blocked as appeals continued.

“The Court should immediately stay its orders to prevent those harmful consequences while the government seeks review in the court of appeals,” the administration’s filing late Friday said.

The Justice Department filing said the state of Florida plans to oppose the stay requests.

Wetherell was an appointee of former President Donald Trump.