A U.S. judge in Texas ruled Thursday against President Joe Biden’s program that offers a path to citizenship to certain immigrant spouses of U.S. citizens, a blow that could keep the program blocked during Biden’s final months in office.
District Judge J. Campbell Barker found that the program, which offers a path to citizenship to about 500,000 immigrants who entered the United States illegally if they are married to American citizens, exceeded Biden’s executive authority.
The initiative, known as Keeping Families Togetherlaunched in August, but was blocked days later by Barker, who left it frozen while he considered a legal challenge brought by Texas and a coalition of US states with Republican attorneys general.
Biden, a Democrat, announced the program in June before abandon the presidential racely pave the way for Vice President Kamala Harris to take on immigration hardline Republican Donald Trump.
Trump defeated Harris in Tuesday’s election and is expected to launch a broad crackdown on immigration that is likely to include withdrawing Biden’s initiative for the spouses of immigrants, which the Trump campaign called a “massive amnesty” that would encourage illegal immigration.
Americans see immigration as the most pressing issue Trump must address when he takes office in January, and a large majority believe he will order mass deportations of people living in the United States illegally, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll concluded on Thursday. .
The Biden administration could appeal Thursday’s court decision. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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