A Trump-appointed judge has struck down the Biden administration’s new green-card program for illegal immigrants married to U.S. citizens.
The Keep Families Together [KFT] program also applied to the stepchildren of U.S. citizens. Announcing the program in June, the Biden administration said that it would benefit about 500,000 undocumented immigrants.
The Keep Families Together program has been halted since Aug. 26 after Texas and 15 other Republican-led states brought their challenge before Campbell’s court.
J. Campbell Barker, East Texas federal judge, sided with Texas and 15 other states in finding the program a violation of the Immigration and Naturalization Act. Newsweek sought email comment from the Department of Homeland Security and the White House on Friday.
Campbell, who was nominated to the federal bench by President Trump in January 2017, wrote that Texas had shown that each illegal stepchild of a U.S. citizen enrolled in Texas schools was costing the state over $10,000 a year.
“Texas has further shown that it will incur concrete harm on account of increased costs of providing educational and health-care services to that additional alien population,” Campbell wrote.
“Plaintiffs have thus shown that at least some alien stepchildren in Texas would, as a substantially likely result of the Rule, be in Texas and receive a state-funded education that they would not be present to receive without the Rule. And the court credits [Texas] as proving that the average funding entitlement from Texas state and local sources for 2024 is $10,107 per student per year of attendance.”
Campbell acknowledged that many people had an interest in the immigration parole offered by KFT, but he had to recognize that the program was illegal.
“Parole in place under the KFT Rule is undoubtedly of importance to many parties, but its unlawfulness bars considering those interests,” he wrote.
The program granted work permits and deportation protections to undocumented immigrants who are married to American citizens and have lived in the U.S. for at least 10 years. It also applies to the children of those undocumented immigrants. In addition to deportation protections, it offers them a pathway to a green card and citizenship.
Illegal immigrants married to U.S. citizens already have a pathway to a green card and citizenship through their marriage but, if they entered the U.S. illegally, they must first leave the U.S. and reenter legally. Many are reluctant to do so, fearing that they could face a three- to 10-year exclusion penalty.
Campbell said he would strike down the program but would not issue an injunction against the Department of Homeland Security.
“The mere fact that a court has found that a defendant has committed an act in violation of a statute does not justify an injunction broadly to obey the statute and thus subject the defendant to contempt proceedings,” he wrote.
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