CNN
—
A federal judge on Thursday struck down the Biden administration’s “parole in place” policy that gave legal status to certain undocumented individuals who are married to US citizens.
US District Judge J. Campbell Barker had previously put an administrative hold on the regulation, rolled out earlier this year when President Joe Biden was running for reelection, as the judge considered the lawsuit brought by Texas and 15 other states. The policy shielded select undocumented spouses of US citizens from deportation and allowed them to work legally in the country as they sought citizenship.
In his Thursday ruling on the merits of their case, Barker, appointed by President-elect Donald Trump during his first term, said that Congress had not given the executive branch the authority to implement such a policy. He wrote that “history and purpose confirm that defendants’ view” of the relevant immigration law “stretches legal interpretation past its breaking point.”
The case is one of several ongoing legal challenges to Biden administration policies that the incoming Trump administration may refuse to defend after the White House changes hands.
Barker rejected a request by individuals who benefited from the program to intervene in the case so that they could also defend the policy.