JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – On Monday, Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt and the Texas Attorney General’s Office filed a motion for preliminary injunction in their lawsuit against the Biden Administration for refusing to continue construction on the Southwest border wall. Missouri and Texas filed suit in late October to require the Biden Administration to continue construction on the border wall using funds already appropriated by Congress for that construction.
“The Biden Administration is refusing to spend funds already appropriated by Congress to continue construction of the Southwest border wall, even as the Department of Homeland Security has admitted that a physical border wall is an effective defense in curtailing illegal immigration,” said Attorney General Schmitt. “Today, we asked the Court to grant a preliminary injunction to require the Biden Administration to spend these funds and continue construction on the Southwest border wall, which is vital to national security and fighting human and drug trafficking.”
The motion for preliminary injunction begins with, “Central to the federal government’s immigration failures has been the Biden Administration’s refusal to spend funds appropriated by Congress mandating the construction of a wall along the southwest border, and the Department of Homeland Security’s recent termination of contracts to perform work on construction projects to build the wall.”
Further, the motion states, “DHS’s refusal to obligate and spend duly-enacted appropriations mandating the construction of the southwest border wall violates the Separation of Powers, the Take Care Clause, the Impoundment Control Act of 1974 (to the extent it applies), the Administrative Procedure Act, and the Consolidated Appropriations Acts of 2020 and 2021. For these reasons, the Court should preliminarily enjoin Defendants from implementing the January 20 Proclamation directing DHS to refuse to spend the appropriations for construction of the southwest border wall.”
Additionally, the motion argues that the Department of Homeland Security has twice said that physical barriers or walls work in deterring illegal immigration: “DHS noted that border wall construction in one sector led to a 90 percent decrease in border apprehensions.”
The full motion for preliminary injunction can be found here: https://ago.mo.gov/docs/default-source/press-releases/ecf-19-(pi-motion).pdf?sfvrsn=69dbef7e_2