Immigration enforcement gained another legal foothold Monday when a federal court in Texas struck down a 2024 Biden administration rule that had given immigration judges the authority to suspend deportation proceedings indefinitely — with the ruling arriving the very same day the challenge was filed.
The America First Legal Foundation, an organization established by Trump senior adviser Stephen Miller, joined Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in bringing the suit in Wichita Falls. Their 43-page complaint characterized the regulation as one that "effectively grant(s) indefinite amnesty to aliens illegally present in this country."
U.S. District Judge Reed O'Connor, a Northern District of Texas jurist appointed by President George W. Bush, issued the injunction almost immediately after the Justice Department submitted a response siding with the plaintiffs rather than defending the rule — a move that accelerated the case's resolution. Under the now-blocked policy, immigration judges could administratively shelve a case once both the government and the immigrant had been heard, particularly where the individual might be eligible for a legal pathway to stay.
Neither Paxton's office nor the Justice Department replied to requests for comment.
The episode drew fierce condemnation from immigration law specialists. "This is madness! Deliberate collusion with a federal judge to rapidly erase regulations without any input from affected parties," said Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a senior fellow with the American Immigration Council. "It's clearly an unlawful act by all, and now litigants will have to seek to intervene in the already-completed lawsuit to overturn his actions."
The sequence of events mirrors a pattern observers have previously flagged involving Judge O'Connor, who has repeatedly ruled in Paxton's favor in cases targeting Obama- and Biden-era policies. A comparable situation unfolded last year when the Justice Department sued Texas over a statute permitting undocumented students to pay in-state tuition rates; within hours, Texas turned to O'Connor to have the law declared unconstitutional, and he obliged. Legal experts said at the time that such tight coordination between state and federal actors to dismantle a state law was highly irregular and raised collusion concerns.
Monday's ruling fits within the broader immigration agenda of President Trump, who has directed federal resources toward limiting both legal and illegal immigration and speeding up removals — including of people who had been allowed to remain in the country under prior administrations — as part of a campaign pledge.
Informational content only, not legal advice. Consult a licensed immigration attorney.