A federal judge in Texas has temporarily put a freeze on a presidential order that could have offered amnesty and a path to citizenship to hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants in the United States.
The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas on Monday froze a program created by the White House earlier this year that offers deportation protections and other amnesty benefits to undocumented immigrants who are married to U.S. citizens, court documents said. The decision came less than a week after a Republican-led coalition of states sued the Biden-Harris administration over the order and sought a temporary restraining order. (Related: Greg Abbott removes thousands of foreigners and dozens of dead people from Texas voter rolls)
“This is a major victory in the legal battle to block the Biden-Harris Executive Order that would give more than one million undocumented immigrants a path to U.S. citizenship,” said Stephen Miller, president of America First Legal. press release.
“This executive order is now on freeze,” Miller continued. “America First Legal is honored to work with Attorney General Paxton, Attorney General Labrador, and 14 other states to fight this unconstitutional mass amnesty.”
NATIONAL HARBOR, MARYLAND – MARCH 4: Stephen Miller, former senior advisor to President Donald Trump, speaks during the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center on March 4, 2023 in National Harbor, Maryland. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
President Joe Biden announced the order in June during a White House ceremony marking the 12th anniversary of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA. declaration The bill would give illegal immigrants who are married to US citizens deportation protections, work permits and a path to legal status, and the White House estimates that up to 500,000 illegal immigrants could benefit from the program.
To be accepted into the amnesty program, illegal immigrants must prove they are legally married to a U.S. citizen, have lived in the country for at least 10 years, and ultimately receive approval from the Department of Homeland Security, which reviews applicants on an individual basis. According to To the White House.
In introducing the amnesty order, the Biden-Harris administration is using a power known as “parole,” which removes obstacles in U.S. law that prevent foreign spouses who entered the country illegally from obtaining green cards without leaving the country, opening a path to permanent residence for them. (Related article: Cash-strapped California increasingly likely to hand taxpayer mortgages to illegal immigrants)
A coalition of 16 states, led by Miller's America First Legal, Texas and Idaho, filed suit Friday, seeking a temporary injunction against the program, arguing it is unconditional.
“Under Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, the federal government is actively working to turn America into a country without borders and without laws,” Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said. stated on Friday. “I'm not going to let this happen.”
“Biden's new parole-avoidance plan unilaterally grants a path to citizenship to unvetted aliens who first break our laws on American soil,” Paxton continued. “It violates the Constitution and exacerbates the scourge of illegal immigration that plagues Texas and our nation.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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