Sixteen Republican-led states have filed suit to end a federal program that could potentially provide a path to citizenship for nearly half a million undocumented immigrants married to U.S. citizens.
The coalition filed suit on Friday to stop the program launched by President Joe Biden in June, saying in court documents that the administration bypassed Congress to create a path to citizenship for “obvious political reasons.”
“This measure encourages illegal immigration and will cause irreparable harm to the plaintiff states,” says the lawsuit, filed in federal court in Tyler, Texas.
Under the arrangement, which began accepting applications on Monday, many undocumented spouses can apply for what is known as “parole in place,” which allows them to stay in the United States, apply for a green card and eventually become American citizen.
But in an election year where immigration is one of the biggest issues, the program is particularly controversial, with many Republicans attacking the policy, claiming it is essentially a form of amnesty for lawbreakers.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said in a statement Friday that the plan “violates the Constitution and actively exacerbates the disaster of illegal immigration that is harming Texas and our country.”
The lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and other Biden administration officials accuses the agency of paroling spouses “en masse,” which the states say is an abuse of power. The states have also filed a motion to suspend the program while the litigation continues.
In a post on X, Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody said her state is challenging the parole policy because she believes the Biden administration is “illegally and systematically using ‘parole’ to advance its open borders agenda.”
The conservative nonprofit America First Legal, led by Stephen Miller, a former adviser to President Donald Trump, is serving as co-counsel in the lawsuit.
Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Mayra Alejandra said the agency will defend the Keeping Families Together program in court and will continue to process applications already submitted and accept modern applications.
“Keeping Families Together is based on a well-known legal foundation, and its purpose – to enable families of U.S. citizens to live together without fear of separation – is consistent with fundamental American values,” said Alejandra.
White House spokesman Angelo Fernández Hernández fired back, accusing Republicans of “playing politics” and calling the lawsuit another form of family separation.
“This lawsuit seeks to force U.S. citizens and their families who have lived in the United States for more than a decade to continue living in hiding,” Fernandez said in a statement.
The nonpartisan immigration and criminal justice organization FWD.us said the program was in line with the law, pointing to the timing of the lawsuit – when Vice President Kamala Harris accepted the Democratic presidential nomination.
“The only motives behind this lawsuit are the cruelty with which families are being torn apart and the blatant political hope that a judge will act in the interests of the anti-immigration movement,” the organization said in a statement.
Karen Tumlin, founder and director of the Justice Action Center, called the lawsuit “unsurprising, but extremely disappointing and cruel.”
“However, it is important to stress that nothing is changing for now and the process is still ongoing and applications are being accepted,” she said.
To be eligible for the program, immigrants must have lived in the United States for at least 10 years continuously, must not pose a security threat or have a disqualifying criminal history, and must have been married to an American 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 that includes, among other things, a justification for why they are eligible for humanitarian parole and a long list of documents proving how long they have been in the country.
If the application is approved, applicants have three years to apply for constant residency. During this time, they can get a work permit. The government estimates that about 500,000 people and about 50,000 of their children will be eligible.
Before this program, people who were in the United States illegally had a tough time obtaining a green card after marrying an American citizen. They might have to return to their home country – often for years – and they always had to live with the risk of being denied entry.
The lawsuit alleges that states must bear the burden of additional immigrants remaining in the country.
Texas, the lawsuit alleges, spends tens of millions of dollars each year on a program that provides health insurance for children, including those in the country illegally. The state also spends millions each year “on increased law enforcement as its citizens suffer rising crime, unemployment, environmental damage and social unrest due to illegal immigration.”
Because the program’s beneficiaries are eligible for a work permit, these additional workers would “depress the wages of the Texas population, thereby directly harming the state and its citizens,” the lawsuit states.
Evelyn Wiese, an immigration attorney with Americans for Immigrant Justice, called the lawsuit an “attack” on mixed-status families who have spent years serving their communities in the United States.
“The attempt to tear these families apart and deny them a legal path to U.S. residency is cruel and shows an extremist anti-immigrant mentality,” she said.
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AP writer Rebecca Santana contributed to this report from Washington.
