COURT SHOOTS DOWN BIDEN ADMINISTRATION’s MASS AMNESTY ORDER FOR MIGRANTS
The Biden-Harris administration faced a significant setback in federal court on Thursday regarding its initiative to grant amnesty to as many as half a million undocumented migrants residing in the United States.
A federal judge in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas ruled that President Joe Biden’s executive order aimed at creating a pathway to citizenship for numerous undocumented migrants married to U.S. citizens was unlawful. This order had been introduced earlier in the summer and was contested by the Texas attorney general along with several Republican-led states.
“From the outset, the Biden-Harris Administration has committed itself to dismantling our immigration system and undermining our borders,” stated Gene Hamilton, executive director of America First Legal, the conservative organization spearheading the legal challenge against the order. “The states have risen to the occasion repeatedly.”
“Today, with the leadership of Texas and the unwavering Ken Paxton, along with a coalition of brave Attorneys General, we successfully halted an illegal initiative that would have granted amnesty to hundreds of thousands of undocumented individuals and set the stage for the most extensive administrative amnesty in American history,” Hamilton added. “We take pride in standing with these patriots in defense of our great nation.”
Biden first announced the executive order in June during a White House event celebrating the 12th anniversary of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), the last major amnesty program implemented by the federal government. Known as the Keeping Families Together program, the order allowed undocumented spouses of American citizens to apply for lawful permanent residency without needing to leave the country first, according to a fact sheet provided by the administration.
Currently, undocumented immigrants can seek legal status after marrying a U.S. citizen, but they must leave the country to initiate the process. Biden’s order sought to broaden a statutory authority called “parole-in-place,” permitting those noncitizens to await the outcome of their applications while remaining in the U.S.
Under this program, approved undocumented migrants would not only obtain lawful permanent residency and work permits but also a pathway to citizenship. While the White House anticipated that the order might impact up to half a million undocumented migrants, America First Legal asserted that the actual number could exceed one million.
America First Legal joined forces with Texas and Idaho, along with a coalition of 14 state attorneys general, in August to file a lawsuit against the Biden-Harris administration to halt the amnesty initiative. Later that month, the U.S. District Court of the Eastern District of Texas temporarily halted the program, though Biden vowed to continue the fight.
On Thursday, the court ultimately determined that the Department of Homeland Security did not have the statutory authority to implement the order.
