A pathway to permanent residency for undocumented immigrant family members of US citizens was ruled unlawful by a district court judge in a win for Republican-led states.
District Court Judge J. Campbell Barker found that the Department of Homeland Security did not have statutory authority under the Immigration and Nationality Act to grant parole in place to immigrants eligible for the program dubbed Keeping Families Together.
The program allowed roughly half a million spouses and 50,000 stepchildren of US citizens without lawful status to apply for a green card and work permit without leaving the country. Without the program, those individuals would be required to seek permanent residency abroad, exposing them years-long bars on reentering the US.
Parole grants had been frozen since Aug. 26 after Texas and 15 other GOP states brought a challenge in the Eastern District of Texas, arguing that the Department of Homeland Security had exceeded its authority and violated the Administrative Procedure Act in establishing the program.
The Biden administration argued that the states lacked standing to bring the challenge because they couldn’t show any concrete harm from the parole process.
The case is Texas v. DHS, E.D. Tex., No. 6:24-cv-00306, opinion issued 11/7/24.
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