A coalition of Republican-led states is suing the Biden-Harris administration in order to stop an executive order that could give amnesty to up to half a million illegal immigrants.
Sixteen states are suing Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and other top White House officials to block an executive order that effectively creates a pathway to citizenship for hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants who are married to U.S. citizens, according to a lawsuit filed Friday and provided to the Daily Caller News Foundation. The plaintiffs filed their lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas.
“Under 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,” Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton stated. “I will not let this happen.”
“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,” Paxton continued. “This violates the Constitution and actively worsens the illegal immigration disaster that is hurting Texas and our country.”
President Joe Biden announced the executive order in June during a White House celebration of the 12-year anniversary of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, better known as DACA . The new order gives deportation protection, work permits and a pathway to legal status to hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants who are married to American citizens.
Those who apply must meet certain criteria, such as being legally married to a U.S. citizen, providing proof that they lived in the U.S. for at least a decade and meeting other standards set by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
The maneuver the Biden-Harris administration is using to grant this mass amnesty is via an authority known as “parole-in-place,” which will remove obstacles in U.S. law that prevents noncitizen spouses who entered the country unlawfully from obtaining green cards without leaving the country first, offering them a pathway to permanent legal status.
The plaintiffs argue the plan is unlawful and are seeking a temporary restraining order.
“Today, we are proud to represent a coalition of sixteen states in filing a lawsuit to block an unconstitutional Biden-Harris amnesty program,” Stephen Miller, president of America First Legal, said in a statement on Friday.
“This executive amnesty gives over one million illegals legal status, work permits, and a path to voting citizenship,” Miller continued. “It is brazenly unlawful, a deadly accelerant to the ruinous border invasion, and we will use every lawful tool to stop it.”
The states involved are Texas, Idaho, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, North Dakota, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, and Wyoming, according to the lawsuit.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the DCNF.
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