Tennessee’s attorney general is joining several of his peers nationwide in demanding that the Biden administration enforce illegal reentry laws, which make it a crime to attempt to cross back into the United States after deportation.
“We, the undersigned attorneys general, write as chief legal officers of our States to inquire about your intent to appeal the decision in United States v. Carrillo-Lopez…” a letter signed by Tennessee Attorney General Herbert H. Slatery III and addressed to United States Attorney General Merrick Garland says.
In the referenced court case, a federal district judge in Nevada struck down a law, 8 U.S.C. § 1326, that makes it a crime for previously-deported illegal aliens to reenter the country, calling it unconstitutional.
“This is a long-standing statute and one of the most effective ways we have to deter illegal reentry into the United States by individuals who have been denied admission, deported or removed,” Slatery reportedly said of the letter. “The federal government should act immediately and defend the law.”
Slatery joined nine other attorneys general in signing the letter to Garland, wherein the group asked the federal government to appeal the ruling to higher courts.
“We now urge you to follow through by defending the law before the Ninth Circuit and (if necessary) the Supreme Court. We ask that you confirm expeditiously DOJ’s intent to do so. Alternatively, if you do not intend to seek reversal of that decision and instead decide to cease prosecutions for illegal reentry in some or all of the country, we ask that you let us know, in writing, so that the undersigned can take appropriate action.”
The attorneys general promised their own action if the federal government failed to overturn the Nevada ruling and uphold the law, while simultaneously blasting the Biden administration for its border security policies, which have led to a surge of illegal aliens unseen in decades.
“If the DOJ fails to seek reversal of this ruling, and if it adopts a policy of refusing to enforce the illegal reentry statute, that non-enforcement policy will be subject to a challenge And [sic] the importance of any such challenge would be magnified by this administration’s practice of shirking its duty to take care that the laws be faithfully executed—a practice that has become troublingly common,” the letter says.
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Pete D’Abrosca is a contributor at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Pete on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
