Appeals court orders Biden deportation priorities reheard

VICTORIA, Texas (AP) — A federal appeals court on Tuesday ordered a new hearing by the full court on the legality of the Biden administration’s selective criteria on who should be deported.

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans vacated a Sept. 15 ruling by a three-judge 5th Circuit panel that upheld administration policy.

The Tuesday order said one of the court's 26 judges requested a poll of the judges on the appeal by Texas and Louisiana of the panel's ruling of a lower-court ruling that the Biden administration’s interim enforcement priorities were illegal. A majority of the court's 17 active judges voted to order a rehearing by all of the judges, the order stated.

No date was scheduled for the rehearing.

In an Aug. 19 ruling, U.S. District Judge Drew Tipton of Victoria, Texas, struck down the administration policy that prioritizes for deportation those who crossed the border illegally who are deemed to be national security threats, who have serious criminal records, or who have been picked up at the border.

Tipton, who held the Biden administration’s priorities to be illegal, was appointed to the bench by the Trump administration, the policy of which made everyone in the country illegally a priority for deportation.

Messages to the Texas Attorney General's Office and the U.S. Justice Department seeking comment were not immediately returned.

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This story has been corrected to exclude nine senior and semi-retired judges from the poll.