Couples hoping to take part in the Biden administration’s Keeping Families Together program for undocumented spouses are asking the court to let it resume.
Roughly 500,000 undocumented people married to U.S. citizens are thought to be eligible for a path to citizenship through the Keeping Families Together program, which launched in August.
But the program was halted days later — when Texas and other GOP-led states filed suit — arguing it could harm their states financially. Applications have been blocked ever since an appeals court put a temporary hold on the program.
Tucson immigration attorney Mo Goldman says the program’s been on hold for more than 40 days already.
“Most likely, if it keeps going, would be blocked for a total of 74 days, without any sort of decision on a preliminary injunction,” he said. “It is just holding up the ability to process these Keeping Families Together applications as they should be permitted to do under the law.”
Goldman says many of his clients interested in the program are holding off on applying now that it’s blocked. Others already applied and are now stuck in limbo.
Attorneys with the Justice Action Center and Make the Road New York filed a motion on behalf of the 11 program hopefuls asking the appeal's court to lift the administrative hold instated by the district court in Texas — arguing it’s gone on past its legal limit.
"District courts cannot block federal programs and processes like KFT for more than 28 days without providing the requisite legal analysis," their release read. "Without taking into account long-settled rules for granting injunctive relief, the district court in Texas has unlawfully frozen the KFT process under an “administrative stay” since August, recently extending the stay to expire on November 8th, conveniently after the bench trial the judge scheduled for Election Day."
The first court date for the case is Nov. 5 — Election Day.
