10 de noviembre 2024
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A Texas federal judge has struck down US president Joe Biden’s plan to facilitate the legalization of nearly half a million undocumented partners or stepchildren of US citizens.
According to the ruling issued the night of November 7, Judge J. Campbell Barker found that Biden’s “Keeping Families Together” initiative violates US Immigration Laws. He sided with Texas and over a dozen other Republican-led states that contested the new policy.
The decision of the judge, who was appointed by Donald Trump during his last term in office, represents a defeat for the Biden Administration and pro-immigrant groups, who had encouraged those favored by the law to apply as soon as possible.
The plan was based on the concept called “Parole in place,” which grants temporary permission to remain in the United States and offers protection from deportation, as well as the possibility of obtaining a work permit.
But the most important thing is that it would have allowed spouses or stepchildren of a US citizens to immediately begin the process of applying for a green card, or permanent residency, in the United States.
Under current laws, noncitizen spouses are eligible for legal status, but must apply from their home countries. The process typically involves a years-long wait outside of the US, which can cause great hardship to families. Furthermore, once they leave, those who originally entered illegally risk being barred from reentering for 10 years.
Parole in place program never got off the ground
The measure, which had barely been announced in June and begun in mid-August, hadn’t even been in effect for a week when Baker, a US District Court Judge based in East Texas, put it on hold as requested by the plaintiffs, headed by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a staunch Republican. On November 7, he definitively struck down the measure, declaring that the Biden administration had overstepped their authority.
Immediately after the measure was announced in June, ultra-conservative sectors threatened to challenge it in court. They accused the Democratic administration of utilizing the new norm as part of their campaign to hold onto the White House.
Baker originally allowed the US Citizenship and Immigration Services agency (USCIS) to receive the applications but not to process them.
In order to qualify for the program, the beneficiary had to have lived in the country for a minimum of ten years and to be married before June 17, 2024, the day the program was announced. The Biden Administration estimated that approximately 500,000 non-citizens married to US citizens were eligible, along with some 50,000 stepchildren.
Texas has spearheaded a number of legal battles against the government of Joe Biden on matters of immigration, among them one asking to put an end to the “DACA” program (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals), which has benefited thousands of ”dreamers” since 2012.
The US Fifth Circuit Appeals Court will soon issue its ruling regarding the legality of the DACA provision, another program that Trump has had his eye on since his past term in government (2017-2021).
This article was published in Spanish in Confidencial and translated by Havana Times. To get the most relevant news from our English coverage delivered straight to your inbox, subscribe to The Dispatch.
