Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody’s office has filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration over its failure to produce requested public documents regarding policies allowing criminals to enter the United States following their release from U.S. prisons.
In March, Moody’s office filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the federal government. When there was no response, Moody’s office filed the complaint September 3 in federal court seeking injunctive relief to compel the release of the documents.
“Historically, when illegal aliens were brought to the U.S. to be prosecuted for their crimes, it was well understood that the aliens would be deported once they have served their sentence,” the complaint states. “That was until the Biden-Harris Administration implemented their shockingly irresponsible immigration policy, pushing unknown numbers of dangerous criminals straight from federal prison into our communities and causing chaos, anarchy, and crime.”
Moody says the Biden administration knows prisoners from other countries are making their way into the United States through “our wide-open border.”
“Now, we are demanding to know reasons why the Biden administration is releasing criminal illegal aliens in U.S. prisons directly into the interior, rather than deporting them back to their country of origin,” she said. “This reckless scheme could have disastrous and serious repercussions, and the American people deserve to know. …
“In addition to flat out refusing to secure the border, reports indicate that President Biden and failed Border Czar Kamala Harris refuse to deport dangerous illegal immigrant prisoners once they are released from prison. On top of that, reports last week show possible foreign gang affiliated illegal aliens overtaking apartment complexes in American cities. This administration has made it clear they will not turn over documents showing this dangerous and unlawful scheme in a timely manner. Now, American cities are suffering in a very public way. I will not stand idly by and allow this dereliction of duty, that is why I filed suit today.”
In the complaint, Moody says Americans are watching “in horror” as they witness the consequences of this and other border-related policies.
“Armed gang members took over an apartment complex in Colorado and used it as a base for criminal activity,” the complaint states. “That incident represents merely one example of the destruction and chaos wrought by this administration’s policy choices.”
Moody also says most Americans do not understand “just how reckless” the administration has been behaving. She uses aliens captured on the high seas looking to smuggle illegal drugs into the country.
“Unlike aliens who reach land, aliens caught at sea are generally not eligible to claim asylum or to appear before an immigration judge,” the complaint states. “The federal government, however, sometimes chooses to bring these criminal aliens to the United States so the aliens can be prosecuted consistent with federal law and serve time in prison.
“But everyone has always assumed — in both Democrat and Republican Administrations — that such aliens would be deported the moment they finished their criminal sentence. Otherwise, the decision to bring a criminal to the United States for prosecution results in a benefit to that alien in the form of the right to permanently remain in the United States.”
The complaint says, for the first time in history, the current administration has abandoned that practice.
“In other words, as things stand, asylum seekers caught on the high seas have been returned to their home country without even seeing an immigration judge, while drug traffickers and other serious criminals brought to the United States only for the purpose of serving prison time are being released straight into our communities to wreak havoc on our citizenry,” the complaint states.
In addition to an order to produce the records requested in its FOIA request, Moody’s office seeks court costs, attorney fees and other relief.
U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida case number 2:24-cv-00797