A federal judge in Texas on Monday paused a Biden administration policy that would give spouses of US citizens legal status without having to first leave the country, dealing at least a temporary setback to one of the biggest presidential actions to ease a path to citizenship in years, the AP reports. The administrative stay issued by US District Judge J. Campbell Barker comes just days after 16 states, led by Republican attorneys general, challenged the "Keep Families Together" program that could benefit an estimated 500,000 immigrants in the country, plus about 50,000 of their children. One of the states leading the challenge is Texas, which in the lawsuit claimed the state has had to pay tens of millions of dollars annually from health care to law enforcement because of immigrants living in the state without legal status.
President Biden announced the program in June. Before this program, it was complicated for people who were in the US illegally to get a green card after marrying an American citizen and the process could include a years-long wait outside of the US, with the risk they may not be allowed back in. The court order, which lasts for two weeks but could be extended, comes one week after the Department of Homeland Security began accepting applications. "The claims are substantial and warrant closer consideration than the court has been able to afford to date," Barker wrote. The judge laid out a timetable that could produce a decision shortly before the presidential election Nov. 5 or before a newly elected president takes office in January. Barker gave both sides until Oct. 10 to file briefs in the case.
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