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A federal judge has struck down a Biden administration program for illegal aliens who are married to US citizens. In a three-paragraph decision, Federal District Judge for the Eastern District of Texas J. Campbell Barker (a Trump appointee, and yes, that does make a difference) ruled that the program the administration rolled out in June 2024 “lack statuary authority under 8 U. S. C. § 11821(d)(5)(A) itself (as opposed to under other provisions modifying or supplementing that authority) to grant parole “in place” to aliens” under the benign-sounding “Keeping Families Together” program.

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The “Keeping Families Program” was challenged by Texas and a coalition of 15 other states soon after its announcement, and Judge Barker halted it in August. Today, he drove a stake through its heart.

The plaintiffs were Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, North Dakota, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Wyoming, and America First Legal. 

In the words of Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey:

“Joe Biden and Kamala Harris created a crisis at the southern border, leaving the American people to pay the consequences. In the wake of the federal government’s refusal to act, states like Missouri had no choice but to step in and take action to secure our southern border,” said Attorney General Bailey. “We filed suit to ensure millions of unvetted individuals are not invading our communities.”

The unlawful PIP program would have allowed aliens who have been unlawfully present in the United States for ten or more years to receive a grant of “parole”—without leaving the United States and attempting to come back and apply for admission at a port of entry—if the alien is the spouse or stepchild of a U.S. citizen.

Biden’s DHS wrongfully asserted it has “unfettered discretion” into who can enter our nation without consulting Congress. Their new program would have allowed more than 1.3 million illegal immigrants already in the states to apply for permanent residency. In the complaint, the attorneys general reminded the defendants that Congress has not authorized said mass amnesty to illegal aliens.

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The fact that the Department of Homeland Security would try to establish such a program in the dying hours of a moribund administration gives an insight into the problems Donald Trump’s administration can expect to find when it finally takes out the trash. One of its first moves should be to fire or reassign everyone in the Department of Homeland Security who took part in developing this atrocity.