“The Court finds that Plaintiffs have not proven that Texas suffered an injury and therefore have no standing to pursue this lawsuit,” Tipton, a Trump appointee to the Southern District of Texas, wrote in a 31-page ruling dismissing the case.
The decision maintains the Biden administration policy, which officials credit with reducing overcrowding On the southern border. Unauthorized crossings by Cubans, Nicaraguans and Haitians have decreased since officials launched the policy in 2016. January 2023. The policy requires that immigrants have a US sponsor, undergo background checks, and arrive in the United States legally at airports, where officials will receive them using emergency power known as parole.
White House spokesman Angelo Fernandez Hernandez welcomed Tipton's ruling and said it shows that the Biden administration's policies are working.
“The district court’s decision depends on the success of this program,” Fernandez-Hernandez said in an email. “The Biden-Harris administration remains committed to expanding legal pathways into the United States, with consequences for those who do not benefit from these processes and have no legal basis to remain in the United States.”
Texas and 20 other states said the Biden administration illegally expanded authority without consulting Congress or considering the impact on US states absorbing new arrivals.
Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who filed a multi-state lawsuit against the four-state parole program in January 2023, had no immediate comment Friday.
“This is the outcome we were hoping for,” Karen Tomlin, founder and director of the Los Angeles-based nonprofit Justice Action Center, said in a phone interview, adding that the program has helped thousands of migrants fleeing danger and poverty obtain permission to return. Enter the United States legally and find work.
“It is a huge victory for the Biden administration,” she said. “We want them to do more of this. It's not just Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans who need these types of pathways.
Biden administration officials said they created the program because large numbers of migrants from those countries were crossing the border illegally. they Their deportation was difficult because of tense US relations with authoritarian regimes in Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela, and violence in Haiti. The program began in Venezuela in late 2022 and has expanded to include other countries.
The administration's overall border strategy has been to create more legal pathways into the United States, such as parole, while threatening tougher penalties, such as deportation, for those who cross the border illegally.
Illegal border crossings by people from Haiti, Cuba and Nicaragua have declined significantly since the program launched, according to Customs and Border Protection statistics. Crossing attempts by Venezuelans varied, declining in some months and rising sharply in others.
The Biden administration said parole created an orderly way for migrants to apply for asylum, and because they had sponsors willing to resettle them, And ensure that cities and towns are prepared to accommodate them. Officials say migrants' journeys are also safer, allowing them to use U.S. airports and skip dangerous journeys through Central American jungles and cities in Mexico.
After arriving in the United States, immigrants can apply for two-year work permits and asylum or other immigration status, Such as permanent residency through a direct relative.
Biden administration officials say migrants can still be deported if they are not eligible to stay permanently.
In contrast, immigrants who surrender on They may be detained at the U.S.-Mexico border in crowded Border Patrol jails, then released to shelters in cities like Chicago and New York that have been struggling to keep up with new arrivals.
During a trial before Tipton in August, Texas officials said the border state had a vested interest in protecting its budget and ensuring federal immigration officials enforced the law.
They said that among the financial burdens suffered by Texas were the costs incurred by the state in issuing driver's licenses and providing health care and education. The state said the parole program would increase the number of immigrants in the state, thus increasing state costs.
But Tipton said data during the trial showed that crossings of arrivals from the four groups decreased, costing Texas less money. He noted in the lawsuit that if Texas showed the state had been harmed by the program in the future, a different decision might follow.
Justice Department lawyers defended federal parole authority during the trial, noting that it has been in place since the 1950s to quickly admit foreign citizens. They said the program is a rational solution that would help border states like Texas by reducing the number of new border crossers.
Tipton has blocked Biden's immigration policies before. A judge suspended Biden's 100-day moratorium on deportations shortly after the president took office.
In August 2021, Tipton halted a Biden administration policy that sought to spare millions of illegal immigrants in the United States from deportation. The Supreme Court rejected his argument and reinstated the policy in June, saying the administration had the right to set its own enforcement priorities.
In a separate decision on Friday, Tipton temporarily blocked the Biden administration from halting construction on the wall along the U.S.-Mexico border and redirecting funds to environmental remediation and other purposes. The states of Texas, Missouri, and the Texas General Land Office filed a lawsuit, arguing that Congress authorized the construction of the border wall, and that Biden is required to implement it.
Tipton stayed his order for seven days so the government could appeal, but the Justice Department had no immediate comment on his ruling Friday. Paxton welcomed the ruling in a press release.
Nick Miroff contributed to this report.
