Republican States Move to Keep Major Trump-Era Border Policy amid Surge in Illegal Immigration

President Donald J. Trump prepares to sign a plaque placed along the border wall Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2021, at the Texas-Mexico border near Alamo, Texas.

Over a dozen Republican states are attempting to stop a federal judge from ending Title 42, a major Trump-era border policy, according to court documents filed Monday.

Arizona, Louisiana, Alabama, Alaska, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia and Wyoming asked D.C. Judge Emmet Sullivan if they could intervene in the case in which Title 42, which has been used to expel over one million migrants to mitigate the COVID-19 pandemic, was overturned, according to the request. Sullivan ruled on Nov. 15 that the Biden administration must end the policy in late December, giving them time to prepare for an expected influx of illegal migrants at the southern border.

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Solar Company Joins Multibillion Green Investment Spree in Republican States

First Solar announced plans to invest $1.2 billion into production of U.S.-made photovoltaic (PV) solar modules in Ohio and the southeastern U.S., joining a growing list of companies developing green energy initiatives in Republican-controlled states.

First Solar announced that it would invest $185 million into “upgrading and expanding” its manufacturing capabilities in three factories in northwestern Ohio, which the company describes as the “largest vertically-integrated complex of its kind in the Western Hemisphere,” as well as investing $1 billion in a new plant in the American Southeast, according to a press release. The solar company is the latest in a slew of billion-plus-dollar investments in green energy initiatives, spearheaded by automakers, seeking to take advantage of tax credits offered under the Inflation Reduction Act by constructing or retrofitting production facilities in Republican-controlled states.

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