Judge halts Biden program offering legal status to undocumented spouses
A federal judge in Texas has frozen President Joe Biden’s attempt to offer a path to citizenship to hundreds of thousands of immigrants who are married to U.S. citizens and living in the United States illegally, dealing a blow to a program the administration has touted as a key “pro-family” initiative.
U.S. District Judge J. Campbell Barker sided with Texas and 15 other Republican-led states that sued to block the program; they argued Biden’s move was an abuse of executive authority that sought to rewrite U.S. immigration laws.
Barker issued a 14-day administrative pause on approving applications to the program, with the possibility of an extension, and scheduled additional hearings over the coming weeks.
“The claims are substantial and warrant closer consideration than the court has been able to afford to date,” wrote Barker, a Trump appointee who was a deputy solicitor general in Texas before joining the bench. His order allows the government to continue receiving applications during the stay.
“As with most administrative stays, the court has simply undertaken a screening, ‘first-blush’ review of the claims and what is at stake in the dispute,” Barker wrote. The case was filed in the Eastern District of Texas, part of the conservative-leaning 5th Circuit, which has become the most popular judicial district for Biden opponents seeking to block Democratic programs.
Biden officials say as many as 500,000 couples would benefit from the “parole in place” offer, which was announced in June and started accepting applications Aug. 19. It makes use of executive “parole” authority to grant a path to legal residency for immigrants who meet certain requirements – including 10 years of continuous presence in the United States, a clean criminal record and marriage to a U.S. citizen before June 17.
Applicants who are approved receive work authorization and have three years to apply for permanent residency.
They would otherwise be required to first leave the United States and apply to reenter to get permanent residency, which a process that can take months or years during which a family would be separated.