(The Center Square) – A federal judge in Texas has struck down President Joe Biden’s plan to fast-track citizenship for a wide swath of illegal foreign nationals.
In June, Biden announced a path to citizenship for hundreds of thousands of foreign nationals who’ve been living in the country illegally for more than 10 years and married a U.S. citizen. The plan also expanded protections for recipients of the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which a federal judge has twice ruled is illegal. The most recent ruling was in a multi-state lawsuit led by Texas to end DACA once and for all, The Center Square reported.
To implement his plan, the Department of Homeland Security proposed a “Keeping Families Together” program. It directed federal agents to “process for certain noncitizen spouses and stepchildren of U.S. citizens who are present in the United States without admission or parole,” meaning they are in the country illegally, “to request parole in place” status.
Not soon after, Texas and a coalition of 16 states sued, arguing granting PIP status to noncitizens living in the country illegally was illegal, ignored the Constitution, violated the Administrative Procedure Act, and contravened existing federal law, The Center Square reported.
“Federal statute prohibits illegal aliens from obtaining most immigration benefits, such as permanent resident status, without first leaving the country and being admitted to re-enter and reside in the country lawfully,” the coalition said.
Instead of following current federal law, the program “effectively provides a new pathway to a green card and eventual citizenship,” the coalition added, because it allows “more than 1.3 million aliens who are unlawfully present in the United States to circumvent the processes established by Congress to apply for permanent residency – an opportunity that is not legally available to those present in the country unlawfully.”
The PIP status is only supposed to be used “for urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit,” not issued en masse, according to federal law the brief cites.
The complaint also lists an estimated number of foreign nationals illegally living in each of the plaintiff states who are married to a U.S. citizen and may qualify for the PIP program. Texas has the most, an estimated 204,000; Florida has 93,000, followed by Georgia’s 34,000, among others.
DHS said the process began on Aug. 19 and that “family unity is a bedrock objective of the U.S. immigration system.”
However, within days of filing the lawsuit, Judge J. Campbell Barker, presiding over the U.S. District Court Eastern District of Texas Tyler Division, temporarily halted the program and scheduled the case for expedited proceedings, The Center Square reported. Judge Barker said the states’ claims that the DHS may be violating federal statutory law are “substantial” and issued an administrative stay.
He issued a 74-page ruling on Thursday, refuting the arguments DHS made and ruled DHS lacked the statutory authority to implement such a program.
He also issued a one-page judgment vacating the “Implementation of Keeping Families Together” and PIP program.
In it, he declared that DHS lacks statutory authority under federal immigration law “itself (as opposed to under other provisions modifying or supplementing that authority) to grant parole ‘in place’ to aliens, as that term is used in the final agency action published” in the Federal Register.
For months, President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris claimed his so-called amnesty plan issued five months before the general election was responsible for reduced illegal border crossings between ports of entry. This claim was fact-checked to be false, The Center Square reported.
Illegal border crossings were not only historically high this past year but continued after he announced his plan in June. Nearly 3 million illegal border crossers were reported in fiscal 2024, and roughly 14 million under the entire Biden-Harris administration—the most in U.S. history, The Center Square reported.
There were at least a record 1.6 million illegal border crossers from just 4 of 12 countries of particular concern under Biden: China, Cuba, Nicaragua and Russia. These countries are known for “systematic, ongoing, egregious violations of religious freedom,” which includes “torture, prolonged detention without charges, forced disappearance, or other flagrant denial of life, liberty, or security of persons,” The Center Square exclusively reported.
More than 3 million illegal border crossers were also reported illegally entering the U.S. from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, Venezuela, as well as through another DHS parole program, The Center Square exclusively reported.
The greatest number of known or suspected terrorists were also apprehended attempting to illegally enter the U.S. under Biden, The Center Square exclusively reported.
The ruling blocks the amnesty plan from being implemented. DHS is unlikely to appeal due to the administration only having less than two months left in office.
Related Story: Report: Immigration Courts Broke Records in Fiscal 2024
