Unauthorized residents married to U.S. citizens suffered an ominous legal setback just two days after the election of a presidential candidate who has vowed to use mass deportation against the nation’s immigrants.
U.S. District Court Judge J. Campbell Barker ruled Nov. 7 the Biden administration exceeded its authority with a program allowing undocumented spouses of American citizens to apply for green cards without first having to leave the country to seek legal re-entry.
“Nothing I did changed the requirements people have to meet to adjust their status under immigration law.”
Known as “Keeping Families Together,” the program would have granted temporary immunity from deportation to eligible applicants and given them three years to seek permanent legal residency through a process known as “parole in place.”
But just days after its implementation in August, 16 Republican states led by Texas sued to overturn the program and Barker, a Trump appointee to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, quickly issued a hold that continued until he issued his permanent order this month.
“We strongly disagree with yesterday’s ruling and we are evaluating next steps,” White House spokesperson Fernández Hernández said in a CBS News report. “This ruling sides with Republican state officials who are seeking to force U.S. citizens and their families, people who have lived in the United States for more than 10 years, to either separate or live in the shadows in constant fear of deportation.”
In a statement released after Barker’s August decision, President Biden described opposition to the program as harmful to immigrants who have become trusted community and church members and significant contributors to local economies.
“They make us a better country,” he said. “Nothing I did changed the requirements people have to meet to adjust their status under immigration law. All I did was make it possible for these long-time residents to file the paperwork here — together with their families.”
Ken Paxton
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton praised Barker’s ruling for dismantling a “radical attempt to destroy the nation’s borders” and circumvent immigration policies established by Congress.
“Once again, we have stopped the Biden-Harris administration’s radical attempts to destroy America’s borders and undermine the rule of law,” said Paxton, who was impeached by the Texas House last year for unethical conduct. “This unlawful parole scheme would have rewarded more than 1 million illegal aliens with citizenship and incentivized millions more to break into our country.”
The Department of Homeland Security, however, estimated 500,000 undocumented residents would have been eligible for the program and that “on average, these noncitizens have resided in the United States for 23 years. In addition, approximately 50,000 noncitizen stepchildren of U.S. citizens are estimated to be eligible to seek parole under Keeping Families Together.”
Legal concerns also are mounting for the nation’s 580,000 Dreamers, recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program known as DACA. The Obama-era policy prevents the deportation of undocumented immigrants who entered the U.S. as children and provides them with work authorization and the opportunity to renew every two years.
In October, the U.S. Fifth District Court of Appeals heard oral arguments in Texas v. United States, which challenges the Biden administration’s efforts to strengthen DACA by giving it the status of a federal regulation. Two previous federal court rulings found the program to be unlawful before the case landed at the appellate court.
Congress has refused to address the issue of the Dreamers, even though granting them permanent legal status is largely popular with voters.
Congress has refused to address the issue of the Dreamers, even though granting them permanent legal status is largely popular with voters.
Dreamers already enrolled in the program have been allowed to renew their DACA status throughout the appeals process, but new applicants are not being accepted.
“Any ruling is likely to be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. It’s important to note that even if the Fifth Circuit rules DACA is unlawful, it won’t necessarily order an immediate end to DACA, but could permit current recipients to continue to renew,” said the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, whose lawyers participated in the appellate hearing.
But immigration advocates remain concerned about the effects deportation would have on Dreamers who know only the U.S. as their home.
“If DACA ends, nearly 1 million U.S. citizen family members, including 90,000 spouses and 300,000 children of DACA recipients, could face separation from a loved one who is protected by DACA if these anti-immigrant efforts prevail. The loss would be unconscionable,” said the Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights.
“With the program’s future in the hands of the Fifth Circuit and anti-immigrant bills in effect across the country, we must protect immigrant youth and all immigrant communities from attacks and harmful legislation that hurts our immigrant communities and neighbors, and the American people,” the statement added.
Krish O’Mara Vignarajah
Meanwhile, President-elect Donald Trump has pledged to conduct mass deportations of immigrants residing in the country illegally, and some of his allies want the sweep to include Dreamers.
“Given President-elect Trump’s record on immigration and promises to suspend refugee resettlement, restrict asylum protections, and carry out mass deportations, we know there are serious challenges ahead for the communities we serve,” said Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, president of Global Refuge, a U.S. refugee resettlement agency. “We also believe in the possibility of progress and urge the incoming administration to consider the immense value that immigrants and refugees bring to our nation.”
The day after the election, Refugees International warned its supporters of “dark days ahead” for refugees and for their advocates in the U.S. and abroad: “Amidst historic levels of global displacement, the incoming Trump administration plans to enact an anti-refugee, anti-asylum agenda that will endanger millions of people — both those threatened by crises overseas and those who have been welcomed as neighbors into communities across the United States.”
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