January 25, 2021

Austin— Grassroots Leadership, along with Detention Watch Network, ICE Out of Austin, Immigrant Legal Resource Center, Laredo Immigrant Alliance, LatinoJustice, Mujeres Luchadoras, PRLDEF, Texas Fair Defense Project, Texas AFL-CIO, Texas Organizing Project, RAICES, Workers Defense Project, Workers Defense Action Fund, and the Waco Immigrants Alliance, will hold a press conference on Tuesday, January 26th, with impacted members of our community to demand that Texas stop its attack on immigrants by suing the Biden Administration over its 100-day moratorium on deportations.

On Friday, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed suit in federal court in Victoria, Texas, to stop the immigration memorandum issued by the Acting DHS Secretary on January 20th, 2021. The memo, among other things, calls for a moratorium on deportations for 100 days and directs DHS agencies to conduct a much-needed comprehensive review of enforcement policies and priorities. 

We've seen this before - Texas has a history of exploiting anti-immigrant sentiments to drive lawsuits that attack undocumented communities in this nation, such as in the previous DACA and DAPA lawsuits. Today, grassroots groups and undocumented communities in Texas say enough; we will not stand and watch this state put the relief of millions at risk. We demand that the Biden administration exercises its full power to defend the legality of the memorandum, and we demand our state legislators and congressional representatives call on AG Paxton to drop this lawsuit.