Concord, NH – Attorney General John M. Formella announces today that he is joining a coalition of 27 attorneys general in a legal filing demanding the federal government fix unlawful immigration policies and secure the border. The government’s current border security posture has resulted in more than seven million inadmissible immigrants surging across the border. To date the U.S. Department of Homeland Security continues to release inadmissible immigrants into the country. The coalition is demanding that DHS amend its unlawful policies to expressly prohibit the mass release of inadmissible immigrants into the U.S.

“We are seeing a national security and public safety crisis unfold right before our eyes, and it stems directly from the federal government’s inability to secure the U.S. border. We cannot stand idly by as our immigration policies allow deadly fentanyl to keep pouring into our communities and criminal organizations continue to prey on the vulnerable by smuggling them into our nation illegally,” said Attorney General Formella. “The time is now for the federal government to make fast and serious fixes to its border security strategies. The Biden Administration must immediately change course to preserve the safety and security of New Hampshire and our entire country.”

The coalition of Attorneys General submitted a Petition for Rulemaking to amend the DHS’s catch-and-release policies, stating that the policies are blatantly unlawful and have real effects on the security of our country. The petition states: “As the court found in Florida, DHS’s mass release policies have been ‘akin to posting a flashing ‘Come In, We’re Open’ sign on the southern border’…In August 2023, Border Patrol released 100,585 aliens under § 1226(a). Florida anticipates that the numbers in August and September will be even higher, especially given DHS’s decision to set release quotas for Border Patrol to meet. Even if the numbers merely remain the same, DHS is releasing aliens at a rate of over one million per year, and that does not include the aliens being released on parole under § 1182(d)(5).”

In addition to unlawfully releasing inadmissible immigrants into the U.S., DHS is giving the migrants released under the unlawful practices a court date many years in the future. DHS’s unlawful decisions are allowing millions of unauthorized immigrants to remain in the U.S. for 15 years or longer before ever approaching a judge’s bench.

The coalition is urging DHS to amend its regulations to expressly prohibit the unlawful releases.

The petition states: “The purpose of this Petition to Initiate Rulemaking, 5 U.S.C. § 553(e); 6 C.F.R. §§ 3.1–3.9, is to demand that you fix the problem you created. Specifically, you should promulgate changes to your regulations to close the catch-and-release loophole that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is currently exploiting to implement its mass release policy at the Southwest Border… The amendment could be made to either 8 C.F.R. § 235 or § 236. And all the amendment needs to say is something to the effect of ‘aliens who are subject to § 1225(b) because they meet the definition of ‘applicant for admission’ in § 1225(a) may not be released under § 1226(a) because that provision does not apply to them’…In other words, the amendment should clarify that § 1225 and § 1226 do not overlap but ‘apply to different classes of aliens.’”

To read the full petition, click here.