Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich is hitting out at the “anarchy and chaos” at the southern border under the Biden administration, just as the Supreme Court blocked the rolling back of Title 42 expulsions in response to a last-ditch lawsuit by Republican states.
“I think that as a first generation American, no one understands this issue better than I do,” Brnovich told Fox News Digital in a phone interview. “I understand why people want to come to this country. But I also understand the importance of the rule of law. And you can have immigration, but it has to be done in the right way, a lawful way.”
“What is happening right now is anarchy and chaos. And it is undermining the very reasons why people want to come to this country in the first place,” he said.
Arizona was one of the GOP-led states that made the emergency appeal to the Supreme Court to keep Title 42 — a Trump-era public health order that allows for the rapid expulsion of migrants due to the COVID-19 pandemic — in place.
SUPREME COURT TEMPORARILY HALTS TERMINATION OF TITLE 42, WILL HEAR CASE IN FEBRUARY
Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich gestures and smiles during his visit to the Yuma Sun in Yuma, Arizona, Thursday morning, June 2, 2022. (Randy Hoeft/The Yuma Sun via AP, File)
A federal judge had ruled in November that the use of the order was unlawful and had given the Biden administration five weeks to end the order. The looming end to the order had sparked widespread concern about a new surge at the border, on top of the already-historic numbers being seen by overwhelmed officials and communities.
Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts put an initial hold on the order’s expiration last week, and on Tuesday, the Court ruled in a 5-4 decision that the policy should remain in place so the court can hear the case on its merits.
Justices Roberts, Samuel Alito, Brett Kavanaugh, Amy Coney Barrett and Clarence Thomas agreed to hear the challenge in the upcoming session which begins in February.
While the stay prevents the district court’s order vacating Title 42, it does not “prevent the federal government from taking any action with respect to that policy.”
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the Biden administration will “comply with the order and prepare for the Court’s review.”
STATE AGS WARN OF ‘ENORMOUS’ HARM IF TITLE 42 POLICY ENDS IN LAST-DITCH APPEAL TO SUPREME COURT
“At the same time, we are advancing our preparations to manage the border in a secure, orderly, and humane way when Title 42 eventually lifts and will continue expanding legal pathways for immigration,” Jean-Pierre said in a statement.
Brnovich, who secured a number of victories over the Biden administration on the subject of immigration and border security, said it was unfortunate that “I keep having to go to federal court to sue the Biden administration just to get them to do their job.”
“The Biden administration has criminalized and incentivized people breaking the law. So this is important because the states have very few tools in their toolbox to fight the losses of the Biden administration. We have seen a record amount of people break the law and illegally enter the country and seems like Arizonans are paying the cost not only fiscally in unreimbursed health care costs and jail costs and education costs, we’re also paying the cost every day in American lives lost.”
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Brnovich said he was glad the court made “the right decision” in the case. As for what the court would find in 2023, Brnovich did not want to be drawn into making predictions.
“I’m married to a judge. I learned a long time ago to never predict what a judge is going to do, especially the U.S. Supreme Court,” he said.
Fox News’ Paul Best contributed to this report.