A federal judge in Texas has issued a temporary pause on the Biden administration’s new protections that would allow immigrant spouses of U.S. citizens a path to citizenship. The order Monday by U.S. District Judge J. Campbell Barker comes after 16 states, led by Republican attorneys general, challenged the program in a lawsuit filed last week.
FILE - President Joe Biden speaks during an event with the National Governors Association in the East Room of the White House, Feb. 23, 2024, in Washington. FILE - Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton speaks during the Conservative Political Action Conference, CPAC 2024, at the National Harbor in Oxon Hill, Md., Friday , Feb. 23, 2024. FILE - President Joe Biden speaks during an event with the National Governors Association in the East Room of the White House, Feb. 23, 2024, in Washington.
The administrative stay issued by U.S. District Judge J. Campbell Barker comes after 16 states, led by Republican attorneys general, challenged the program Friday in a lawsuit that claimed the policy would encourage illegal immigration. President Joe Biden announced the program in June. The pause comes one week after DHS began accepting applications.“The claims are substantial and warrant closer consideration than the court has been able to afford to date,” Campbell wrote.
The policy offers spouses of U.S. citizens without legal status, who meet certain criteria, a path to citizenship by applying for a green card and staying in the U.S. while undergoing the process. Traditionally, the process could include a years-long wait outside of the U.S., causing what advocates equate to “family separation.
“Texas should not be able to decide the fate of hundreds of thousands of U.S. citizens and their immigrant spouses without confronting their reality,” Karen Tumlin, the founder and director of Justice Action Center, said during the press conference before the order was issued.
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