16 states file lawsuit against Biden administration over policy allowing illegal immigrants with US spouses to be released from prison

The Biden administration is facing legal action from sixteen Republican-led states over a contentious parole program that grants U.S. citizenship to illegal immigrants who are married to American citizens.

Certain illegal immigrant spouses of U.S. citizens are being granted humanitarian parole and a path to permanent residency through a rule announced by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and states, led by Texas and America First Legal, are challenging this rule.

The states contend that the rule goes against federal law, which forbids illegal immigrants from obtaining immigration benefits, including permanent status, unless they first depart the country and re-enter. They maintain that this is accomplished through an unlawful use of parole, which is only intended for use on a "case-by-case basis for urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit."

The DHS has announced the creation of a program that provides a new pathway to a green card and citizenship for more than 1.3 million aliens who are unlawfully present in the United States, including over 200,000 who reside in Texas. The states argue in a filing obtained by Planet Chronicle Digital that this program allows these aliens to bypass the processes established by Congress for applying for permanent residency.

The new process enables noncitizen spouses who have resided in the U.S. for a decade as of June and are deemed not to pose a threat to public safety or national security to apply for permanent residency. However, the requirement that they depart and undergo processing abroad has caused families to experience fear and uncertainty about their future.

The fact sheet stated that individuals must not have a criminal history that poses a threat to national security or public safety and should be deemed worthy of discretion.

Approximately 500,000 illegal immigrants will not be eligible for the process, as they must have been in the U.S. for more than 10 years by June 2024.

The coalition of states claims that allowing more than 1.3 million illegal immigrants to benefit would violate Congress's laws restricting parole to a case-by-case determination.

"Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton stated that under the leadership of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, the federal government is actively working to turn the United States into a nation without borders and a country without laws. He vowed not to let this happen. Biden’s new parole workaround unilaterally grants citizenship to unvetted aliens whose first act on American soil was to break our laws, which violates the Constitution and actively worsens the illegal immigration disaster that is hurting Texas and our country while the Administration denies any responsibility for the border crisis."

The states involved in the lawsuit are Texas, Idaho, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, North Dakota, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, and Wyoming.

Stephen Miller, president of America First Legal, stated that the rule was "unlawfully brazen."

"For over three years, America First Legal has been at the forefront of the legal battle against Biden and Harris's open borders agenda. We have filed numerous lawsuits to challenge their harmful policies. Today, we are proud to represent a group of 16 states in a lawsuit to block an unconstitutional Biden-Harris amnesty program. This executive amnesty grants over one million illegals legal status, work permits, and a path to voting citizenship. It is blatantly illegal and will only exacerbate the disastrous border invasion. We will use every legal tool available to us to stop it."

The Biden administration's parole policy has sparked controversy among Republicans. The administration is granting parole to up to 1,450 individuals daily at ports of entry through the CBP One app and is also allowing an additional 30,000 nationals from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela to enter the U.S. via a separate program.

Last month, the CHNV program was stopped due to an internal investigation revealing a substantial amount of fraud among applicants seeking to support migrants entering the U.S.

DHS did not immediately respond to Planet Chronicle Digital's request for comment.