On Thursday, a federal judge dealt a significant blow to the Biden-Harris administration’s plan to provide mass amnesty to at least 550,000 illegal aliens currently residing in the United States.
Earlier this year, a coalition of 16 Republican-led states, spearheaded by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and America First Legal, filed a lawsuit against the administration for its “Keeping Families Together” program. The program would have granted amnesty to illegal immigrant spouses and stepchildren of American citizens, Blaze News previously reported.
‘Once again, we have stopped the Biden-Harris Administration’s radical attempts to destroy America’s borders and undermine the rule of law.’
Additionally, the program would have permitted beneficiaries to parole in place, allowing them to remain in the country while their status is adjusted.
The lawsuit, filed by the 16 state attorneys general, argued that the administration’s claim that it would apply to roughly 550,000 illegal aliens was “likely a significant underestimate,” projecting that it could be closer to 1.3 million.
The complaint contended that the process was unconstitutional because it circumvented Congress and would “irreparably harm” the states’ communities.
U.S. District Judge J. Campbell Barker, a Trump-appointed judge, sided with the states’ lawsuit, striking down the program.
In his 74-page ruling, Barker stated that the administration’s program “focuses on the wrong thing in identifying ‘significant public benefits’ — the benefits of aliens’ new legal status, rather than their presence in this country.”
“The Rule exceeds statutory authority and is not in accordance with law for this reason as well,” he concluded, adding that the “defendants’ view stretches legal interpretation past its breaking point.”
“The court declares that defendants lack statutory authority … to grant parole ‘in place’ to aliens,” Barker wrote.
America First Legal Executive Director Gene Hamilton stated, “Since day one, the Biden-Harris administration has dedicated itself to the decimation of our immigration system and the erasure of our borders.”
“Time and again, the states stood up. And today, the great state of Texas and the courageous Ken Paxton, alongside a coalition of other brave attorneys general, succeeded in stopping an illegal program that would have provided amnesty to hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens and paved the path for the largest administrative amnesty in American history,” Hamilton added.
Paxton wrote in a post on X, “Once again, we have stopped the Biden-Harris Administration’s radical attempts to destroy America’s borders and undermine the rule of law. This unlawful parole scheme would have rewarded more than 1 million illegal aliens with citizenship and incentivized millions more to break into our country. I look forward to the day when the federal government starts following the law again.”
The administration’s Department of Justice can decide to appeal Barker’s ruling.
Neither the White House nor the Department of Homeland Security responded to CBS News’ requests for comment.
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