'Devastating Blow': Trump-Appointed Judge Halts Protections for Undocumented Spouses

Immigrant rights advocates said Monday that they were "deeply troubled" by Trump-appointed judge's ruling that brought the Biden administration's protections for undocumented spouses to a grinding halt, just a week after officials began taking applications from couples who wanted to take part in the Keeping Families Together program.

Siding with 16 Republican-led states that sued over the policy, Judge J. Campbell Barker of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas issued an administrative stay to stop immigration authorities from approving applications.

The judge said the court needed time to determine whether the Biden administration violated the law by introducing the policy without going through the legislative process. Barker said the stay would be in place for 14 days, but Aaron Reichlin-Melnick of the American Immigration Council said the judge signaled that applications may ultimately be halted until at least mid-October.

"This is obviously devastating for people who would have hoped to benefit from the program, and for their U.S. citizen spouses who were hoping that their loved one could get more permanent status," said Reichlin-Melnick, a senior fellow at the organization.

The Keeping Families Together program, introduced by President Joe Biden in June, is designed to allow undocumented immigrants who cross the U.S.-Mexico border and later marry U.S. citizens to obtain a form of "parole" while they complete the green card process.

Usually, people who cross the southern border and marry American citizens are required to return to their home countries while their green card applications are adjudicated, separating them from their families for years.

Under Biden's program, spouses could receive work authorization while while they wait to obtain legal permanent residency, and eventually citizenship.

The program would apply only to undocumented immigrants who have been living in the U.S. for at least 10 years, and the Department of Homeland Security says the average beneficiary has been in the country for 23 years—but Republican officials led by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton claimed the policy would encourage people to cross the border illegally.

"This is a baseless, politically-motivated Republican lawsuit that only serves to rip families apart," said Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) on Tuesday.

The ACLU said the ruling "threatens the livelihood of immigrant children and families," and one undocumented immigrant who filed a motion to intervene in the case on Monday called the decision "heartbreaking" for the estimated 500,000 people who were eligible for the program.

"My wife and I were really depending on this so we could move on with our lives and plan our future," Foday Turay toldNBC News. Turay was brought to the U.S. from Sierra Leone as a child and now works as an assistant district attorney in Philadelphia. "It feels like a knife to the heart."

In a video posted on social media by the immigrant rights group FWD.us, Turay said that he "should not have to live in constant fear of being separated from my wife and my son, both of whom are U.S. citizens."

Todd Schulte, president of FWD.us, said the 16 Republican-led states had filed "a politically-driven lawsuit that we believe will ultimately be defeated."

"Tonight's decision is deeply disappointing. This is an unsound and devastating blow to hundreds of thousands of American families across the country who are now thrown back into fear and uncertainty that their loved ones will be cruelly separated from them for years due to outdated immigration laws," said Schulte. "The Keeping Families Together Parole in Place program was crafted with the express purpose of supporting families who have built their lives in this country for an average of a quarter century. By barring its implementation after the program is already functional, the court has chosen to side with those who seek to sow fear and division rather than uphold the principles of justice and family unity."

Guerline Jozef, executive director of Haitian Bridge Alliance, said the lawsuit and ruling were attacks on a program that took "a vital step toward rectifying the inequities faced by these families, who often live in the shadows despite their deep ties to the United States."

"This federal program offers a crucial opportunity for undocumented spouses of U.S. citizens to regularize their status, enabling them to contribute more fully to their communities and live without the constant fear of separation," said Jozef. "This legal action is a direct assault on the integrity of immigrant families and the principles of fairness and compassion that our nation should uphold."