(Texas Scorecard) – Attorney General Ken Paxton has sued the Biden-Harris administration to halt a parole program aimed at creating an avenue for 1.3 million illegal aliens to remain inside the country.
The “parole in place” rule—unveiled by the Biden administration earlier this year—would allow an illegal alien who has been present in the country for 10 or more years to receive a grant of parole if the alien is also married to a U.S. citizen.
Paxton explained that the rule would change the residency status of certain illegal aliens and permit them to remain in the country indefinitely. The lawsuit alleges that this circumvents congressional authority and violates federal law.
Further, of the 1.3 million illegal aliens to whom the Department of Homeland Security would extend program benefits—200,000 of them are currently in Texas.
Longstanding federal law disallows illegal aliens from permanently residing inside the country without first leaving the United States and waiting the required time based on approved family- or employment-related visa requests.
“Under Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, the federal government is actively working to turn the United States into a nation without borders and a country without laws,” declared Paxton. “I will not let this happen.”
“Biden’s new parole workaround unilaterally grants the opportunity for citizenship to unvetted aliens whose first act on American soil was to break our laws,” he added.
Paxton also posited that this scheme actively violates the U.S. Constitution and exacerbates the border crisis.
Texas was joined by 15 other states in the filing, a coalition represented by America First Legal.
“Today, we are proud to represent a coalition of sixteen states in filing a lawsuit to block an unconstitutional Biden-Harris amnesty program,” stated AFL President Stephen Miller.
“This executive amnesty gives over one million illegals legal status, work permits, and a path to voting citizenship,” he continued. “It is brazenly unlawful, a deadly accelerant to the ruinous border invasion, and we will use every lawful tool to stop it.”
The states that joined Texas are Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, North Dakota, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, and Wyoming.