Judge T. Kent Wetherell II claimed that the border problems are of President Biden’s “own making,” and that the administration possesses the power to resolve the issue without resorting to a blanket parole policy.

Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody, who sought a temporary restraining order on the parole policy earlier in the day, celebrated the ruling as a victory.

She stated, “We took swift action to protect the American people from [President Biden’s] unlawful plan to release thousands of illegal immigrants when Title 42 lifts.”

Judge Wetherell questioned the impact of his ruling on the ground, noting that the government will likely continue to catch and release migrants without guarantees they will attend immigration court hearings or face deportations.

He wrote that “in both instances, aliens are being released into the country on an expedited basis without being placed in removal proceedings and with little to no vetting and no monitoring.”

Parole, a Homeland Security power that allows people to enter the country without a valid visa or permit in exceptional cases, has been increasingly used under the Biden administration, with approximately 1.5 million migrants paroled between October 2021 and March 2023, The Times notes.

Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz warned that without parole, detention facilities would become overcrowded and unsanitary, and agents would be occupied with processing migrants instead of enforcing the law.

This, he cautioned, could enable child traffickers, criminals, and terrorists to cross the border.

However, Judge Wetherell maintained that the same issues would persist with or without parole, emphasizing that “this problem is largely one of Defendants’ own making.”

The decision follows Wetherell’s previous ruling in March, which invalidated an earlier version of parole, according to The Times.