America First Legal, joined by Texas, Idaho, and a coalition of 14 state attorneys general, has filed an urgent lawsuit against the Biden-Harris Administration over a plan to create a pathway to citizenship for approximately one million undocumented immigrants.
The legal action follows President Biden’s announcement in June of a mass amnesty program that would allow undocumented individuals to gain legal status if married to U.S. citizens.
The proposal, known as “Parole in Place,” seeks to provide a route to permanent legal status and U.S. citizenship for its beneficiaries. It would allow individuals who entered the country illegally to obtain green cards without leaving the U.S.
On Friday, the coalition of states, legal organizations, and state attorneys general filed the lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Eastern District to challenge and block the Biden-Harris Administration’s order.
“Federal law prohibits illegal aliens from adjusting their status to that of a Lawful Permanent Resident in the United States if they have been unlawfully present in the United States–a commonsense measure that acts as a disincentive to anyone who might come to the United States illegally,” America First Legal noted in a press release.
The legal group went on to note that the immigration parole authority can only be used on “a case-by-case basis for urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit” for aliens coming temporarily to the United States. DHS “cannot use that power to parole aliens en masse,” which is what the Biden-Harris Administration is attempting to do.
“The implementation of this blatantly illegal program will only further fuel the greatest immigration crisis in history and cause irreparable harm to states like Texas and Idaho,” the release added.
In a statement accompanying the lawsuit, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton stated that the Biden-Harris Administration is “actively working to turn the United States into a nation without borders and a country without laws.”
He added: “Biden’s new parole workaround unilaterally grants the opportunity for citizenship to unvetted aliens whose first act on American soil was to break our laws. This violates the Constitution and actively worsens the illegal immigration disaster that is hurting Texas and our country.”
