The Biden-Harris administration’s efforts to extend amnesty to a half-million illegal immigrants has hit a roadblock, as a Trump-appointed federal judge ordered the program temporarily halted.
In June, the Biden-Harris administration announced an executive action that would grant an estimated 500,000 illegal immigrants married to U.S. citizens and who have lived in America for 10 years to remain in the United States and receive a green card, making them eligible to compete against U.S. workers for employment.
The status, known as “Parole in Place,” would have waived the legal requirement for illegal immigrants to return to their home country while applying for citizenship legally. Aside from spouses of U.S. citizens, the action applied to approximately 50,000 stepchildren under the age of 21.
But 16 state attorneys general, led by Texas AG Ken Paxton, a Republican, sued last Friday, saying the program would encourage illegal immigration.
U.S. District Court Judge J. Campbell Barker, appointed to the federal bench in 2019 by then-President Donald Trump, issued a 14-day, renewable stay of the order on Monday. Such orders often indicate the judge believes the lawsuit is likely to prevail. He also expedited the case, so it can reach a legal ruling faster.
The Department of Homeland Security said it had stopped confirming applications for the program in response to the order, although the order allows DHS to continue receiving applications. America First Legal, which brought the lawsuit, called the ruling a “huge victory.”
Under Section 212(d)(5) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, Parole in Place has only been recognized for the immediate relatives of enlisted soldiers or veterans.
The order seems to have been intended to cement Biden’s place in presidential history. It came exactly 12 years after then-President Barack Obama instituted the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program for illegal immigrants who would have been covered by the DREAM Act—had Congress ever opted to pass it.
The Parole in Place provision has been controversial since its announcement. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., called it “a brazen political stunt.” The plan would “normalize lawlessness,” Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., told “Washington Watch” at the time. A coalition of 16 U.S. senators expressed their “grave concern” over the program’s “legality,” noting in a letter that the latest executive amnesty fell into the Biden-Harris administration’s well-worn pattern of operating outside limits imposed by the law:
Under your Administration, the parole authority has been unlawfully used to circumvent screening and vetting, mass parole of illegal aliens after the cartels surge caravans at the border, and to circumvent normal refugee processing. These actions undermine the immigration laws Congress has passed, and they have eroded the rule of law at our southern border.
“This is just the first step,” promised Paxton. “We are going to keep fighting for Texas, our country, and the rule of law.”
Originally published by The Washington Stand