(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) Texas and 16 other states launched a major lawsuit against the Biden-Harris administration’s mass amnesty plan for hundreds of thousands of aliens residing in the U.S.
Led by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and filed on Friday, the lawsuit accused President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris of exceeding their executive authority by granting green cards to certain illegal immigrants married to American citizens.
Paxton argued that this move undermines the Constitution and aggravates the ongoing illegal immigration crisis.
“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,” Paxton wrote in a press release. “This violates the Constitution and actively worsens the illegal immigration disaster that is hurting Texas and our country.”
Breaking: I am suing the Biden Administration for their unlawful "parole in place" policy that incentivizes and rewards illegal immigration.
We just filed an urgent lawsuit along with @StephenM @America1stLegal and 15 other states to block Joe Biden and Kamala Harris' new… https://t.co/1dOgFFLqro
— Attorney General Ken Paxton (@KenPaxtonTX) August 23, 2024
The lawsuit specifically targets Biden’s controversial directive to the Department of Homeland Security to create a pathway to citizenship for illegal aliens married to American citizens before June 17, 2024, and who have resided in the U.S. for 23 years.
This order expands the “parole in place” policy, which allows illegal aliens to remain in the U.S. while seeking permanent residency. Traditionally, illegal aliens seeking immigration benefits are required to leave the U.S. before applying.
Biden’s plan circumvents the Constitution and violates the laws created by Congress to restrict the use of parole authority to a small number of “case-by-case” determinations, Paxton’s office stated.
Paxton warned, “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. I will not let this happen.”
America First Legal, a conservative public interest group, is serving as co-counsel in the lawsuit, which includes the states of Idaho, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, North Dakota, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee and Wyoming.
“This executive amnesty gives over one million illegals legal status, work permits, and a path to voting citizenship. It is brazenly unlawful, a deadly accelerant to the ruinous border invasion, and we will use every lawful tool to stop it,” America First Legal President Stephen Miller declared.
Filed the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, the lawsuit names DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and the heads of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Office Management and Budget as defendants.
/1🚨BREAKING🚨
We just filed an urgent lawsuit in partnership with @KenPaxtonTX & @Raul_Labrador, and a coalition of 14 states, to block a new Biden-Harris executive amnesty that provides a path to citizenship for over 1 million illegal aliens currently in the United States: pic.twitter.com/ZwHGbAnKW8
— America First Legal (@America1stLegal) August 23, 2024
