The Keeping Families Together program — which allows undocumented spouses of U.S. citizens to apply for citizenship — has been permanently halted. That’s after a district court in Texas ruled against it.
The program uses parole in place to allow undocumented spouses to apply for permanent residency without having to leave the country and face potentially years-long bars on re-entry.
Applicants were required to have been in the U.S. for at least a decade and have no criminal record. Roughly 500,000 people were likely eligible.
District Court Judge J. Campbell Barker issued his ruling just days after a hearing on Election Day, saying the program’s use of parole in place was illegal. It’s permanently shuttered now, but applications had been on hold for months since Texas and other states first filed suit. The Biden administration has not yet said whether it’ll appeal the order.
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The Consulate General of Mexico in Phoenix says the Pinal County Sheriff’s Office is working with the immigration and customs enforcement. It recently published this information via social media to the Mexican community. -
The federal magistrate judge on the case had granted the Department of Homeland Security to pause the challenge by the Center for Biological Security, citing the government shutdown. -
The Trump administration cut most of the federal funding for a program providing free legal counsel to unaccompanied immigrant children who are seeking asylum in the U.S. The money was restored under court order, but attorneys say the lapse sent organizations into a tailspin that’s still playing out today. -
The rule — proposed this week — would require immigrants to submit biographic data like fingerprints and DNA when applying for a range of immigration benefits with Citizenship and Immigration Services. -
Trump administration foreign aid cuts are pinching Mexico’s already overburdened asylum process. That means long wait times for refugees who, barred from entering the United States, are turning to Mexico for safety.
