Judge tosses out Biden program for spouses living in the US illegally

On Thursday, in a 74-page decision, the judge explained that the Biden administration did not have the authority to create the program, which would have been unlikely to remain in place after President-elect Donald Trump took office in January.

A federal judge in Texas on Thursday struck down a new Biden administration program that sought to provide a path to US citizenship for hundreds of thousands of immigrants married to American citizens.

The ruling, issued by Judge J. Campbell Barker of the US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, came months after 16 Republican-led states, led by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, filed a lawsuit claiming that the administration lacked the legal authority to enact the program. In August, Barker temporarily blocked the initiative, just days after it had gone into place.

On Thursday, in a 74-page decision, he explained that the Biden administration did not have the authority to create the program, which would have been unlikely to remain in place after President-elect Donald Trump took office in January.

The Biden administration started the initiative, known as Keeping Families Together, in August, allowing immigrants who were married to US citizens and had been in the United States for 10 years or more a chance to gain a green card without leaving the country.

Generally, immigrants who have entered the United States illegally must leave the country to complete the green card process, which can take years. The Biden program, which was in place for a week, allowed those who were married to US citizens to remain in the country by granting them what the immigration system refers to as "parole," a status that also protected them from deportation.

At the time, President Joe Biden hailed the effort as a way to keep families together and offer them the comfort of knowing they would avoid deportation.

"These couples have been raising families, sending their kids to church and school, paying taxes, contributing to our country," he said in June when he announced the measure. "They're living in the United States all this time with fear and uncertainty. We can fix that."

The Republican-led states said the effort not only created costs for their states but also was a draw for 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. A huge win for the rule of law," Andrew Bailey, the attorney general of Missouri, which was one of the states that helped file the lawsuit, said on social media.

Lawyers who work with immigrants and who backed the initiative said the ruling was a blow to an immigration system already struggling with far more cases than it can process.

"It's extremely disappointing because these are people who have all been here for many years and will move forward in the immigration system," said Dan Berger, an immigration lawyer who submitted a memo in support of the policy to the Biden administration before it was announced. Now, he said, "their cases will take many years and further clog the system."

Rebecca Shi, head of the American Business Immigration Coalition, which championed the program, said the lawsuit was a misguided effort.

"At some point, Republican leaders will need to represent all the families in their states instead of opposing every sensible step being taken," she said in an email. "Polling showed that 41 per cent of Trump voters support legal status for undocumented spouses of US citizens."

The Biden administration did not immediately return a request for comment about whether the government would appeal the ruling.