East Texas judge blocks Biden program that offers legal status to spouses of US citizens
McALLEN, Texas - A federal judge in East Texas on Monday blocked a Biden administration policy that would allow immigrant spouses of U.S. citizens a path to citizenship.
The administrative stay is a big setback for an estimated half a million immigrant spouses of U.S. citizens. According to the White House, many of them have lived in the United States for more than 20 years.
But two immigration advocacy groups have filed their own motion to intervene.
The temporary pause issued by U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas Judge J. Campbell Barker on Monday comes after 16 states, led by Republican attorneys general, challenged the program in a lawsuit that claimed the policy would encourage illegal immigration.
One of the states leading the challenge is Texas, which in the lawsuit claimed the state has had to pay tens of millions of dollars annually from health care to law enforcement because of immigrants living in the state without legal status.
The coalition of states accused the administration of bypassing Congress for "blatant political purposes."
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In an announcement made Tuesday, the order would streamline the process for undocumented spouses of citizens. It would also fast-track work visas for college graduates who are dreamers.
President Joe Biden announced the program in June. The pause comes one week after DHS began accepting applications.
The order puts the program on hold for at least two weeks while the challenge continues.
"The claims are substantial and warrant closer consideration than the court has been able to afford to date," Barker wrote.
The policy offers spouses of U.S. citizens without legal status, who meet certain criteria, a path to citizenship by applying for a green card and staying in the U.S. while undergoing the process. Traditionally, the process could include a years-long wait outside of the U.S., causing what advocates equate to "family separation."
The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately return an email seeking comment on the order.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton posted on X: "We have temporarily blocked Biden's unlawful new ‘parole in place’ program."
Laura Collins with the Bush Institute calls this a familiar pattern.
"The thing that always stands out to me when we see a court challenge to an executive branch action on immigration is how much Congress really does still need to act to make immigration reform a reality," she said.
In response to the administrative stay, two advocacy groups filed a motion in a U.S. district court in Tyler to intervene on behalf of 11 immigrant clients.
"Texas should not be able to decide the fate of hundreds of thousands of U.S. citizens and their immigrant spouses without confronting their reality," said Karen Tumlin, the founder and director of Justice Action Center. "If granted, the motion to intervene would ensure that the people most directly impacted by this keeping families together process would have a voice before the court."
It would affect people like Oscar Silva Perez, who married his high school sweetheart. She is a U.S. citizen. The couple lives in Denton. Perez has lived in the U.S. since he was a child.
"Natalie and I are seeking to defend Keeping Families Together parole because we want to fight for our dreams," he said.
Part of that dream for Perez is getting his master's degree at UNT in Denton.
The program has been particularly contentious in an election year when immigration is one of the biggest issues, with many Republicans attacking the policy and contending it is essentially a form of amnesty for people who broke the law.
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To be eligible for the program, immigrants must have lived continuously in the U.S. for at least 10 years, not pose a security threat or have a disqualifying criminal history, and have been married to a citizen by June 17 - the day before the program was announced.
They must pay a $580 fee to apply and fill out a lengthy application, including an explanation of why they deserve humanitarian parole and a long list of supporting documents proving how long they have been in the country.
If approved, applicants have three years to seek permanent residency. During that period, they can get work authorization. The administration estimates about 500,000 people could be eligible, plus about 50,000 of their children.
Before this program, it was complicated for people who were in the U.S. illegally to get a green card after marrying an American citizen. They can be required to return to their home country - often for years - and they always face the risk they may not be allowed back in.