“The court just granted our request to throw out the Biden-Harris administration’s illegal parole-in-place program allowing illegal aliens to remain in our country after they have crossed the border,” Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey said in a statement. “A huge win for the rule of law.”
A federal judge in Texas has found that a Biden administration program offering a path to citizenship for the undocumented spouses of U.S. citizens is unlawful.
According to The New York Times, the ruling was issued earlier this month by Judge J. Campbell Barker of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. Barker had earlier issued an injunction against the program, preventing its enforcement days before it was scheduled to take effect.
In his 74-page decision, Barker explained that the Biden administration does not have the authority to create the program, termed the “Keeping Families Together” initiative.
If approved, Keeping Families Together would have let certain undocumented immigrants—those who are married to U.S. citizens and have been present in the United States for 10 or more years—to apply for permanent residency and, eventually, citizenship.
Although some undocumented spouses of U.S. citizens are entitled to apply for green cards, they are typically required to apply from their country of citizenship. Until their application is approved, they are unable to re-enter the United States to continue residing with their U.S. citizen spouse.
If Keeping Families Together had been approved, undocumented spouses would have been able to apply for residency from within the United States.
“These couples have been raising families, sending their kids to church and school, paying taxes, contributing to our country,” President Joe Biden said in a June statement. “They’re living in the United States all this time with fear and uncertainty. We can fix that.”
However, Republican-led states contested the measure, saying that it would increase administrative costs for individual states while acting as a draw for prospective migrants.
“The court just granted our request to throw out the Biden-Harris administration’s illegal parole-in-place program allowing illegal aliens to remain in our country after they have crossed the border,” Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey said in a statement. “A huge win for the rule of law.”
CBS News notes that, though the federal Department of Justice is entitled to appeal the ruling, the incoming Trump administration would almost certainly make the program’s elimination a top priority.
“We strongly agree with yesterday’s ruling and we are evaluating net steps,” White House spokesperson Angelo Fernandez Hernandez said in a statement. “This ruling sides with Republican state officials who are seeking to force U.S. citizens and their families, people who have lived in the United States for more than ten years, to either separate or live in the shadows in constant fear of deportation. As the President has said, America is not a country that tears families apart.”
Sources
Judge declares Biden immigration program for spouses of U.S. citizens illegal
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