A Texas rancher has sued President Joe Biden and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), alleging that their policies have led to “the largest influx of illegal aliens in American history.”
On July 31, the Immigration Reform Law Institute filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas on behalf of rancher Michael Vickers, Kinney County Sheriff Brad Coe, and Atascosa County, Texas.
The lawsuit also names DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, U.S. Customs and Border Protection Acting Commissioner Troy Miller, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Acting Director Patrick J. Lechleitner, and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Ur M. Jaddou as defendants.
“With full awareness of the likely consequences, Defendants have adopted unlawful policies that, working in concert, have frustrated Congress’s purposes in the immigration laws,” the lawsuit states.
According to the legal filing, Vickers—who is also a veterinarian—lives with his wife on a 1000-acre ranch in Brooks County, Texas.
According to the lawsuit, the ranch is situated about 70 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border.
“Because of Defendants’ policies, tens of thousands of illegal aliens have been released into the interior who thereafter travel cross country across the grasslands of Plaintiff’s ranch,” the filing states.
In so doing, the illegal immigrants “routinely cause thousands of dollars in damage to fences or gates as they pass through the ranch,” and leave “tons of trash and litter,” the lawsuit states.
In some cases, Vickers has found plastic bags and trash inside the stomachs of his cows, according to the lawsuit.
At other times, his cattle have escaped through cut fences and gates torn down by illegal immigrants, it alleges.
As a result, since early 2021, Vickers has incurred “more than $50,000 in fence and gate damages alone” and has been forced to spend thousands of dollars to mitigate environmental damage, according to the lawsuit.
The legal filing also notes that Vickers and his wife are forced to keep dogs on their ranch for security purposes.
The lawsuit states that the dogs have caught “hundreds of criminal trespasses” many involving members of various gangs, including the notoriously violent MS-13, Tangoblast, Pistoleros, and the Mexican Mafia, among others.
Due to the presence of criminal groups facilitating illegal immigration, Vickers must always carry a pistol to feel safe, the lawsuit states.
The lawsuit claims that the defendants’ actions violate the “take care” clause of the U.S. Constitution, arguing that this clause is “conceptually clear, historically unique, and actionable by those it especially harms.”
The take care clause requires the president to “take care that the Laws be faithfully executed.”
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