Will Republicans Succeed in Blocking Biden’s Program to Legalize Undocumented Immigrants Married to US Citizens?

A Texas judge recently ordered the suspension of policies aimed at making it easier for spouses of US citizens to obtain legal status in the United States, dealing a blow to one of the most significant immigration reforms of the Joe Biden administration.

“That ruling is wrong. Families should not be needlessly separated – they should be able to stay together. My Administration will not stop fighting for them,” the US President wrote on X.

Federal law bars illegal aliens from receiving most immigration benefits, such as permanent resident status, without first leaving the country and being allowed to return and reside in the country legally.

Approximately 500,000 noncitizen spouses and 50,000 noncitizen stepchildren of US citizens could be eligible to access President Biden’s Keeping Families Together program.

On June 18, President Biden introduced a new plan aimed at providing a pathway to citizenship for undocumented spouses of US citizens, which he described as a practical solution for over half a million mixed-status families in the country.

The Biden administration is seeking to take action on immigration, a controversial issue for Americans, ahead of the November presidential election in which Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris is running against Republican Donald Trump.

In April, a Pew Research poll found that 59% of Americans believe undocumented immigrants should be allowed to stay in the country.

Keeping Families Together

Judge J. Campbell Parker of the US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas issued an administrative stay order preventing the administration from approving applications under Biden’s Keeping Families Together program, which could give hundreds of thousands of people a pathway to US citizenship, while the court considers the merits of the case.

Judge Parker said the complaint, filed by a coalition of Republican states, raised legitimate questions about the executive branch’s power to bypass Congress and set immigration policy.

Judge Parker, an appointee of former President Donald Trump, wrote that the claims were substantial and required closer consideration than the court had been able to afford to date.

The states that filed the lawsuit argue that the program costs millions of dollars in public services — including health, education and policing — that immigrants rely on.

The administration can continue to accept applications for the program, but it can no longer approve them, according to the order. 

The suspension will initially remain in effect for 14 days while both sides present arguments in the case, and could be extended.

The judge’s decision comes after 16 Republican-led states sued the Biden administration over the program, which officials say could protect hundreds of thousands of undocumented spouses of US citizens from deportation.

The lawsuit, led by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, alleges that the program, which grants permanent residency, is unconstitutional and rewards illegal immigration, according to Axios.

The lawsuit includes Texas, Idaho, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, North Dakota, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee and Wyoming.

It alleged that the administration bypassed Congress to create a path to naturalization for this category of immigrants for purely political purposes.

“Under the leadership of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, the federal government is actively working to transform the United States into a nation without borders and a state without laws,” Paxton said.

In a post on X, Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody said her state is challenging the parole-in-place policy because she believes the Biden administration is illegally using parole in a systematic way to advance their open-borders agenda.

‘Parole in Place’

The lawsuit has been widely criticized by Democratic officials and those opposed to the breakup of American families.

Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Mayra Alejandra said the agency will defend the Keeping Families Together program in court and continues to process already submitted applications as well as accept new applications.

“The Keeping Families Together Act is based on well-established legal authority, and its purpose — to enable American citizen families to live without fear of separation — is consistent with core American values,” Alejandra said.

White House spokesman Angelo Fernandez Hernandez responded to Republicans' political gamesmanship and called the lawsuit another form of family separation.

FWD.us, a bipartisan immigration and criminal justice organization, said the program is in compliance with the law.

Evelyn Weiss, an immigration attorney with Americans for Immigrant Justice, called the lawsuit an attack on mixed-status families who have spent years contributing to their communities in the United States. “Trying to tear these families apart and prevent them from having a legal path to status in the United States is cruel and reflects anti-immigrant extremism,” she said.

The US Citizenship and Immigration Services began accepting requests from eligible individuals for this process on August 19. 

To qualify for Biden’s measures, an immigrant must have lived in the United States for 10 years and be married to a U.S. citizen, as of June 17.

If an eligible immigrant’s application is approved, they will have three years to apply for a green card and obtain a temporary work permit, protecting them from deportation in the meantime.

The rule also applies to children of a US citizen spouse who lack legal status.

Biden’s program sets up a significant political contrast with GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump, whose hardline stance on immigration includes a push for mass deportations and rhetoric casting migrants as dangerous criminals poisoning the blood of America.

Jeremy McKinney, former president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, said that based on previous cases involving Biden’s legal authority to create the program, it should survive court challenges. 

The program relies on the president’s authority to issue so-called 'parole in place', which has been used for decades by Republican and Democratic presidents to allow immigrants to stay in the United States temporarily, as well as on a case-by-case basis for humanitarian reasons — or because it would significantly benefit the public. 

“The new program does not create a new path to citizenship for immigrants. All it does is make it easier for mixed-status families to stay together while they go through the legal immigration process,” McKinney said.