(RepublicanNews.org) – Twenty Republican states are suing the Biden administration over a parole program for immigrants that the states claim is illegal and violates limitations enacted by Congress.
Texas is the lead state plaintiff, and America First Legal is handling the case.
The program in question allows immigrants to receive US work permits and authorizes them to live for up to two years in the US. It applies to migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela. Migrants have to meet certain criteria to be eligible. For example, if they enter the US illegally rather than going through the legal immigration process, they will not qualify for the program.
The plaintiff states argue that the parole program is illegal because Congress has limited such parole to individual cases that have “urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit.”
The suit asks the court to at least temporarily suspend the program. In a request for an injunction, the plaintiffs argue that the White House has exceeded its authority. Congress has placed limits on “alien parole,” according to the request, and the White House and associated agencies are “subverting” the law and the will of Congress.
The suit also claims the program violates laws and regulations that require the government to give public notice and an opportunity for public comment before launching a new administrative program.
According to the suit, the program permits hundreds of thousands of foreigners to enter the US every year, foreigners who don’t have any “lawful right” to be in the US. The plaintiffs claim the federal government is making decisions about which aliens can enter based on “membership in particular groups,” instead of on the individual circumstances of each case.
In January of 2023, there were 156,274 encounters with immigrants at the US border, slightly lower than the total for January 2022. But in December of 2022, there were a record 251,978 encounters.
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