A federal judge in the Eastern District of Texas on Monday temporarily blocked the Biden administration's plan to allowed illegal immigrants married to US citizens to apply for green cards without leaving the USA
The program, which the White House has dubbed “Keeping Families Together,” will provide a form of legal relief known as “parole in place” to spouses of undocumented American citizens who can prove they have lived in the U.S. continuously for at least 10 years and meet a number of other requirements.
Typically, undocumented immigrants married to U.S. citizens must leave the country to apply for a green card and eventually citizenship, risking years of or even permanent separation from their families. The current Parole provision would allow them to apply without leaving the U.S.
The White House has estimated that 500,000 people are eligible for the program, and federal immigration agencies began accepting applications on Aug. 19. But Republican attorneys general in Texas and 15 other states filed a lawsuit on Friday to stop the program.which resulted in the judge being temporarily blocked.
In filing the lawsuit, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said the program “directly violates laws passed by Congress.”
U.S. District Judge J. Campbell Barker wrote in his ruling that the states' claims “are substantial and require more careful consideration than the court has heretofore afforded.”
Barker's ruling orders the government to stop issuing paroles under the program, but does not order the government to stop accepting applications. Immigrants can still apply for the program, but their applications will not be processed until the deferment is lifted.
The states that filed the lawsuit were assisted by America First Legal, a group founded and led by Stephen Miller, a senior adviser to former President Donald Trump and the architect of many of his administration's immigration policies. Miller called Monday's ruling a “massive victory” for press release.
Immigrants hoping to take advantage of the program expressed sadness and frustration. “It’s heartbreaking,” said Foday Touray, who was brought to the U.S. from Sierra Leone as a child and is now a prosecutor in the Philadelphia district attorney’s office.
Turai was one of a group of immigrants who filed a motion to intervene in the trial On Monday, he will defend the program with the Justice Department. He is married to an American woman from New Jersey, with whom he has a one-year-old son.
“My wife and I really depended on this to move on and plan for the future,” he said. “It's like a knife in the heart.”
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com