Sixteen Republican-led states are suing to end a federal program that could potentially give nearly half a million immigrants without legal status who are married to U.S. citizens a path to citizenship.
The coalition filed suit Friday to halt the program launched by President Joe Biden in June, saying in court filings that the administration bypassed Congress to create a pathway to citizenship for “blatant political purposes.”
“This action incentivizes illegal immigration and will irreparably harm the Plaintiff states,” the suit filed in federal court in Tyler, Texas, says.
Under the policy, which started taking applications Monday, many spouses without legal status can apply for something called “parole in place,” offering permission to stay in the U.S., apply for a green card and eventually get on a path to citizenship.
But the program has been particularly contentious in an election year where immigration is one of the biggest issues, with many Republicans attacking the policy and contending it is essentially a form of amnesty for people who broke the law.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said in a statement Friday that the plan “violates the Constitution and actively worsens the illegal immigration disaster that is hurting Texas and our country.”
The suit filed against the Department of Homeland Security, DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and other Biden administration officials accuses the agency of attempting to parole spouses “en masse,” which the states contend is an abuse of power. The states also filed a motion asking for the program to be put on hold while the lawsuit proceeds.
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.”
The conservative nonprofit America First Legal, which is headed by Stephen Miller, a former adviser to President Donald Trump, is serving as co-counsel in the lawsuit.
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 lawsuit contends that states will bear the burden of additional immigrants staying in the country.
Texas, the suit says, spends tens of millions of dollars each year on a program that provides health insurance for children, including those in the country illegally. It says that the state also spends millions each year “for increased law enforcement as its citizens suffer increased crime, unemployment, environmental harm, and social disorder due to illegal immigration.”
Because the program beneficiaries will be entitled to work authorization, those additional workers “will drive down the wages of Texas residents, directly harming the State and its citizens,” the lawsuit says.
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