HELENA – Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen joined 17 other state attorneys general in suing the Biden administration over its attempt to redefine some illegal border crossings as “lawful pathways” into the country, he announced today. The new proposed border policy will further exacerbate the southern border crises and make it even easier for illegal aliens to cross the border into the United States.

The administration claims their “Circumvention of Lawful Pathways” rule will replace Title 42, a Trump-era policy that gave officials more authority to keep illegal immigrants from crossing the border. However, the new rule only redefines the problem away by recharacterizing what is currently defined as illegal crossings as “lawful pathways.”

“The Defendants claim that the Circumvention Rule will deter illegal border crossings, decrease the number of new unlawful aliens in the United States, and reduce reliance on human smuggling networks. The truth, however, is that the Circumvention Rule is some combination of a half measure and a smoke screen,” the lawsuit states. “It is riddled with exceptions, and it is part of the Biden Administration’s broader effort to obfuscate the true situation at the Southwest Border.”

Under the unlawful policy, a vast number of illegal immigrants would be allowed to enter the country and receive instant work authorization and public benefits – a cost that Montana and other plaintiff states will have to bear. These illegal immigrants would have previously had to cross the border illegally and will still lack lawful status in the United States.

As more illegal aliens arrive in Montana, Montanans will be forced to incur more expenses for law enforcement as crime and drug trafficking will increase. Additionally, the state will have to expend limited resources on education, healthcare, public assistance, and general government services. There are roughly 10,000 illegal aliens and their children in the state which costs Montana taxpayers $39,081,833 annually.

Additionally, the increase in illegal border crossings will have a devastating impact across the country as states like Montana battle an influx of fentanyl and other dangerous drugs coming from Mexico. 

The attorneys general note in the lawsuit that there has been a significant increase in border crossings. During fiscal year 2023, there have already been over 1.4 million encounters at the southwest border. In fiscal year 2022, there were a total of 2,378,944. Additionally, between fiscal year 2021 and March 15, 2023, the Department of Homeland Security recorded 1.4 million illegal aliens who evaded border patrol agents and it is likely there will be more than 1 million this fiscal year.

Montana is joined by Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, and Wyoming in filing the lawsuit led by Indiana.

Click here to read the lawsuit.