On Tuesday morning, as many Americans head to the polls to vote in the election, a case against a Biden administration path to citizenship program headed to court in Texas.
The Keeping Families Together program opens up a path to citizenship for undocumented people who have lived in the U.S. for at least a decade and are married to a U.S. citizen.
Some 500,000 people were thought to be eligible when the program opened in August. But applications were put on hold days after they opened when Texas and other states filed suit.
Attorneys representing families who hope to benefit from the program were in court for the first time tomorrow arguing its merits in a bench trial.
A group of families had hoped to intervene as a party in the case, but were denied. Esther Sung, legal director of the Justice Action Center, said she and other attorneys representing them filed an amicus brief request with the court and were afforded 10 minutes to argue in court.
“So fortunately, through the persistence of our clients who feel like it's very important again for the judge to hear from impacted individuals before he makes this decision on whether to permanently block keeping families together,” she said.
A court ruling that has held up applications from getting processed since August is set to expire Nov. 8.
