A federal judge in Texas ratified this Friday a key piece of the president's immigration policy, Joe Biden, which allows the entry into the United States of a limited number of immigrants from four countries for humanitarian reasons, Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela, rejecting thus an appeal from Republican-led states that said the program created an economic burden for them.
District Judge Drew B. Tipton ruled in favor of the humanitarian parole, or parole, program, which allows up to 30,000 asylum seekers a month to enter the United States from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela in total.
Eliminating the program would have undermined a broader policy intended to encourage immigrants to use the Biden administration's preferred routes to enter the country or face harsh consequences.
Texas and 20 other states that sued argued that the program requires them to spend millions on health care, education and public safety for immigrants. An attorney who worked with the Texas attorney general's office on the legal challenge said the program “created a shadow immigration system.”
Defenders of the federal government's measure countered that immigrants admitted through this policy helped alleviate the agricultural labor shortage in the United States.
The decision is expected to be appealed.
Since the program was launched, more than 357,000 people from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela have been paroled and allowed to enter the country as of January. Haitians have so far been the largest group to use the program, with 138,000 people, followed by Venezuelans (86,000), Cubans (74,000) and Nicaraguans (58,000).
Tipton is a judge chosen by then-President Donald Trump, who ruled against the Biden Administration in 2022 in the case of an order that determined who to prioritize when carrying out deportations.
The program began in fall 2022. Migrants must apply online, arrive at an airport and have a financial sponsor in the United States. If they are approved, they can stay for two years and obtain a work permit.
At a trial in August, Tipton refused to issue a temporary order stopping the nationwide parole program.
Some states said the initiative has benefited them. A Nicaraguan migrant admitted to the country through that process, for example, took a position on a Washington state farm that was having difficulty finding workers. Tipton questioned how Texas could be claiming financial losses if data showed that the parole program It actually reduced the number of migrants coming to the United States.
When the policy went into effect, the Biden administration had been preparing to end a pandemic-era policy at the border, known as Title 42, that barred migrants from seeking asylum at ports of entry and expelled immediately to many of those who entered illegally.
Advocates of the policy also faced scrutiny from Tipton, who questioned whether living in poverty was enough for migrants to qualify. Elissa Fudim, a Justice Department attorney, responded: “I think it probably is not.”
Lawyers for the federal government and immigrant rights groups said that, in many cases, Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans are also fleeing oppressive regimes, escalating violence and worsening political conditions that have endangered their lives.
The lawsuit did not challenge the use of humanitarian parole for tens of thousands of Ukrainians who arrived after the Russian invasion.
Supporters of the program stressed that each case is reviewed individually and that some people who reached the final step for approval after arriving in the United States were rejected, although they did not provide the number of those cases.
The lawsuit is one of several legal challenges the Biden administration has faced over its immigration policies.
ES