Texas, Kansas and 14 Other States Sue to Block Biden’s Parole in Place

August 23, 2024

Complaint shows program unlawful

WASHINGTON—Today, Texas, Kansas and 14 other states went to court to stop the Biden Administration from further abusing the parole power, this time by granting “parole in place” to illegal aliens who have lived in this country for years with their U.S. citizen spouses, and refuse to leave the country to apply for legal status, as required by law. The Immigration Reform Law Institute (IRLI) is outside counsel in this case, providing assistance to the Kansas Attorney General’s office.

In their Complaint, the states raise ten claims, including the claims that paroling people who have lived here for years is not paroling them “into” the country, as the parole statute requires; that this programmatic parole program violates the requirement that parole only be given on a “case-by-case” basis; that the parole granted is open-ended, not temporary as envisaged by the statute; and that the program violates the Paperwork Reduction Act.

“Biden’s ballooning of parole into an alternative immigration program, apart from being transparent political pandering, is flatly against the law,” said Dale L. Wilcox, executive director and general counsel of IRLI. “Congress tightened parole in 1996 to stop just this sort of abuse, but as usual the Biden Administration ignores laws it disagrees with. We hope the court sees how starkly unlawful Biden’s new rule is, and strikes it down.”

The case is Texas v. DHS, No. 6:24-cv-00306 (E.D. Tex.).