Angel Families Speak Out for Remain in Mexico

Press Releases

April 19, 2022

AUSA brief in Supreme Court explains deadly toll of catch and release

WASHINGTON—As the Supreme Court contemplates the future of the “Remain in Mexico” policy to regain control of our southern border, one group too often neglected in the immigration debate is finally having its voice heard: Angel families who have lost loved ones to illegal alien crime.

Attorneys United for a Secure America (AUSA), a project of the Immigration Reform Law Institute (IRLI), filed a friend of the court brief in the Supreme Court on behalf of Advocates for Victims of Illegal Alien Crime (AVIAC), a group composed of Angel families. AUSA is urging the Court to affirm a Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals decision upholding a district court order that restored the Trump administration’s Remain in Mexico policy of returning asylum seekers to Mexico to wait for their asylum hearings in that country, rather than in the United States.

The brief gave AVIAC’s perspective on the need to maintain the Remain in Mexico policy. Too many of those who have been allowed to wait in the United States have harmed Americans by committing crimes such as murder, assault, drunk driving, organ harvesting and importation of deadly drugs such as fentanyl.

“Victims of illegal alien crime and their families have suffered more than anyone as a result of reckless, irresponsible border policies,” said AUSA Director Lorraine Woodwark. “The Court needs to hear from these families when deciding on a matter as consequential as the Remain in Mexico policy, which has proven to reduce chaos at the border and make America safer.”

IRLI has submitted a separate brief in the case, arguing against the Biden administration’s claims that it is not required to implement Remain in Mexico based on the wording of the relevant statute.

“Families of those killed by criminal aliens should have some of the most prominent voices on the direction of our immigration policies,” said Dale L. Wilcox, IRLI’s executive director and general counsel. “Instead, anti-borders activists in the media, government and advocacy groups have tried to marginalize them. The Supreme Court should hear from AVIAC about the terrible impact illegal alien crime has had on American families.”

“Considering the catastrophe at the border since Biden took office, you would think the administration would welcome a loss at the Supreme Court,” said AVIAC President Don Rosenberg, whose son Drew was killed by an illegal alien in 2010. “That way they could save face but stop the invasion that has endangered national security and public safety.”

The case is Biden v. Texas, No. 21-954 (Supreme Court)

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