Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas blasted a federal judge Friday for blocking the Biden administration from quickly releasing illegal immigrants into the United States.

U.S. District Judge Kent Wetherell issued the ruling that halted the Biden administration’s “parole with conditions” program Thursday, following a lawsuit by Republican officials in Florida. The Biden administration allowed Title 42 to lapse at 11:59 p.m. Thursday.

“Very harmful ruling, attacking a practice that prior administrations have used. It’s not new,” Mayorkas said to MSNBC host Jonathan Lemire. “But let me share with you what happens. First of all, the majority of individuals will be removed. When a Border Patrol facility is overcrowded, we screen and vet the individuals in our custody and then we release them, for them to go into immigration enforcement proceedings. The Department of Justice is considering its options.”

The Daily Caller News Foundation obtained documents detailing the Biden administration’s plans to allow migrants to be released on “parole with conditions,” without any means to track them or giving them court dates.

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Mayorkas predicted during testimony before the Senate Homeland Security Committee at an April 18 hearing that there would be a surge of migrants after Title 42 expired.

Over 1.2 million illegal immigrants have been encountered at the U.S.-Mexico border during fiscal year 2023, according to data released by United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP), following 2,378,944 encounters in fiscal year 2022 and 1,734,686 in fiscal year 2021, while Fox News reported that 600,000 migrants evaded CBP in fiscal year 2022.

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