UPDATE, Sept. 5, 2024: On September 4, 2024, District Court Judge J. Campbell Barker extended the administrative stay on USCIS’ adjudication of Keeping Families Together PIP applications for an additional 14 days, until September 23rd, 2024. As with the initial stay, USCIS continues to be able to accept new PIP applications but cannot grant parole. Individuals eligible for PIP may still submit applications.
UPDATE, Aug. 27, 2024: On Monday, August 26, Judge J. Campbell Barker of the Eastern District of Texas temporarily halted the Keeping Families Together program by issuing an administrative stay. The stay on the program prohibits USCIS from approving any application until and unless the stay ends or is dissolved, although it does not prohibit USCIS from accepting new applications. Accordingly, individuals eligible for PIP
may still apply for the program.
The stay will last 14 days but may be extended for good cause. The Court has also set a schedule for briefing on Plaintiffs’ Motion for a Temporary Restraining Order, Preliminary Injunction, and Summary Judgment with all briefing due by October 10, 2024.
The “Keeping Families Together” parole program was announced by President Biden in June of 2024 and seeks to minimize the separation of families during the immigration process. The program provides an avenue by which the undocumented spouses and stepchildren of United States citizens may stay in the country while they pursue lawful permanent residency, a measure known as “parole in place” (“PIP”).
The law, an executive order by the President, went into effect on August 19, 2024. On August 23, sixteen GOP-led states filed a lawsuit in the Eastern District of Texas, claiming that the program is an unlawful action taken by the Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) and Executive branch. Plaintiffs filed a Motion for Temporary Restraining Order, Preliminary Injunction, and Stay of Agency Action in an effort to immediately halt the program and prevent further action on existing applications.
The lawsuit against Keeping Families Together challenges the program as an action that “incentivizes illegal immigration and will irreparably harm the Plaintiff states.” In its Response requesting time to develop discovery on Plaintiff states’ allegations that they will suffer harm in the form of increased costs relating to applicants’ use of social services, such as schools and healthcare, DOJ lawyers noted that spouses eligible for PIP—the majority of applicants—have by definition been in the country for ten years or more under the program’s eligibility requirements. Accordingly, eligible PIP recipients and their U.S. citizen families do not represent an influx of new immigrants and do not use additional state resources beyond any that they have received for over a decade.
The Court is expected to announce its decision relating to the Temporary Restraining Order, Injunction, and Stay of Agency Action within the next several days.
Please continue to follow this blog post, which will be updated following any relevant Court decisions, for more information. As of now, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) will continue to accept cases until any further court action. Applications remain open, and eligible individuals may still apply. For more information on eligibility, please see our recent blog.
Should you have any questions about your eligibility for Keeping Families Together, please contact Stephen Antwine at santwine@gands-us.com or 215-395-8959.
