Federal Judge Orders Pause on Biden Admin Plan for Authorizing Migrant Spouses

A federal judge in Texas temporarily blocked a recently enacted Biden administration policy that would protect an estimated 500,000 spouses of U.S. citizens from deportation nationwide.

The Details: The two-week pause comes after a lawsuit from 16 Republican-led states.

For Context: The program, titled “Keeping Families Together,” was introduced via an executive action from President Biden in June and took effect last week. To qualify for the program, spouses of citizens have to have lived in the U.S. for at least 10 years. The program would make paths to a Green Card or citizenship easier.

Key Quote: District Court Judge J. Campbell Barker, who issued the order, wrote, “The claims are substantial and warrant closer consideration than the court has been able to afford to date.”

How The Media Covered It: Media across the spectrum noted that immigration is a key issue for voters this fall and included context on why some support the program while others denounce it. CBS News (Lean Left bias) included that red states suing said the program “rewards illegal immigration” and “have challenged nearly every major Biden administration immigration move.” Fox News (Right bias) highlighted that in the lawsuit, Texas said it “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.”