Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach is leading a coalition of state attorneys general seeking to intervene in two lawsuits between the Biden administration and immigrants' rights groups, including the ACLU. The cases, East Bay Sanctuary Covenant v. Biden and M.A. v. Mayorkas, are currently before the District of D.C. Court and the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.
In both instances, immigrants' rights groups are asking the courts to invalidate a Biden administration rule that allows the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to turn away some asylum seekers.
The coalition filed motions to intervene because they believe the Biden administration entered settlement negotiations instead of defending its own rule adequately. According to the coalition, this move fails to represent their interests related to illegal immigration.
"We thought in good faith that the federal government would sufficiently defend this rule in court, but that turned out not to be the case," said Abhishek Kambli, Kansas Deputy Attorney General. "State intervention is necessary because it is clear that the defendants cannot and will not represent the states' interests adequately."
The AGs concur with Judge VanDyke's warning in East Bay Covenant that "it's hard to avoid any impression other than that the administration is snatching defeat from the jaws of victory – purposely avoiding an ultimate win that would eventually come later this year."
"In the arena of immigration… (the Biden administration has) taken deliberate actions that are hostile to the intervenor states' interests," reads one motion to intervene. "It is hard to dispute that the current illegal immigration crisis is seriously harming the United States. Those responsible for preventing and addressing the crisis – the Department of Homeland Security and (the Department of Justice), defendants in this case – have abdicated their responsibility over and over again. And they are heading down the same road in this manner, too."
Joining Kansas in seeking intervention are attorneys general from Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and West Virginia.