Texas Judge Blocks Biden-Era DOJ Rule on Migrant Removals (1)

A conservative federal judge in Texas on Monday ruled against a Biden-era rule codifying immigration judges’ authority to close migrants’ removal proceedings—hours after the state filed a lawsuit challenging the regulation.

The contested regulation “is in excess of statutory authority and contrary to law,” Chief Judge Reed O’Connor of the US District Court for the Northern District of Texas wrote in his two-page order.

“No statute authorizes immigration judges to indefinitely administratively close or suspend adjudication of a case before them,” O’Connor said.

The order from O’Connor, a George W. Bush appointee highly sought after by the Trump administration ...