A federal judge has struck down the Biden administration’s “parole in place” policy, which granted legal status to certain undocumented individuals married to U.S. citizens.
U.S. District Judge J. Campbell Barker had previously placed an administrative stay on the regulation, implemented earlier this year as President Joe Biden was running for reelection, while considering a lawsuit filed by Texas and 15 other states. The policy shielded certain undocumented spouses of U.S. citizens from deportation and allowed them to work legally in the country while seeking citizenship.
In his ruling, Barker, an appointee of President Donald Trump, stated that Congress had not given the executive branch the authority to implement such a policy. He wrote that “history and purpose confirm that defendants’ view” of the relevant immigration law “stretches statutory interpretation beyond its breaking point.”
This case is one of several ongoing legal challenges to Biden administration policies that the incoming Trump administration could decline to defend after the White House changes hands.
Barker also rejected a request from individuals who benefited from the program to intervene in the case to defend the policy.
The policy would have applied to people who have been living in the United States for 10 years, using existing legal authority known as “parole in place” that offers protections against deportation. In addition to spouses, the policy would also apply to undocumented stepchildren of U.S. citizens.
As previously reported by CNN, the program was estimated to directly affect between 750,000 and 800,000 people. This could have made it the federal government’s most sweeping relief program since the 2012 implementation of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which shields undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as minors from deportation.
DACA itself is currently the target of a years-long legal challenge. An appeals court earlier this fall heard arguments over a judge’s ruling that deemed the DACA program illegal but allowed it to continue for current enrollees while an appeal was resolved.
Source: CNN
