August 27, 2024
That was June. And last night – that fix he created for about half a million undocumented migrants who are legally married to American citizens and have lived in the United States for at least 10 years….came to a screeching halt.
The program called keeping families together was already up and running, accepting and approving applications – but a federal judge in Texas last night said it needs to be put on pause after 16 Republican led states sued.
Ok – late last week 16 Republican led states including Texas, Idaho, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, North Dakota, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee and Wyoming sued the Department of Homeland security over this program. They say it was unlawfully created by executive order, that existing laws prohibit anyone who enters the United States illegally from qualifying for immigration benefits and while the law already does allow for these people to stay in the United States on a “case-by-case” basis, this program lets them stay “en masse.” The lawsuit says if the program is allowed to continue, the states will be irreparably harmed.
And the judge agreed. At least temporarily. Judge barker wrote this 9-page order. He agrees the states have at least a valid argument that needs to be heard and a 14 day administrative pause was appropriate. The judge is asking for a response from d-h-s and says the pause can be extended.
Now – you may be thinking – doesn’t the law already allow those who marry American citizens to become also American citizens? The answer is yes. That is the law. But the process to get there takes years. And in some cases if you come here illegally, and you’re married to an American citizen if you want to apply for permanent residence you have to wait outside the united states for up to 10 years. The keeping families together program would allow those undocumented spouses to apply for permanent residence and stay in the United States while they wait for their application to be approved. Under the program, once permanent residency is granted, the recipient would be eligible for a work visa for three years and then can start the process of applying for us citizenship after that. Now – not every undocumented spouse is eligible for this program. In fact if you are married to an American citizen but entered the united states after June 17th of 2014 you do not qualify. You would also not qualify if you do not meet all the other existing legal requirements to become a lawfully permanent resident nor would you qualify if you are a spouse who has been living outside the United States or a spouse living here illegally who overstayed a visa. This program also does *not* allow these people to vote. Permanent residents are *not* eligible to vote in federal elections.
So what happens to the program now? Homeland security says the ruling allows them to continue to accept applications for this program however, they cannot approve any new ones until the case is resolved. And if you were already approved through this program this ruling does not apply to you…your approval stands.
Read DHS notice on this ruling here.
Read the Judge’s order here.
